The “Um”—bundling of—Ultraviolet Velveteen…

I come from ablaze

a female mountain boulders scorched

cradled—in—betweenbeat—strained

beet—stained borders

boulders cradled—in—between

housed by sets of female met

ablaze mountains

I come from red—rivet—runners

celestial kilned charred—dipped

minerals four—folded

into

a five-fingered

waterborne form—

less

I come from red—stream—running—water

and

bitter plant—passing—practices

I come from the badlantic cry of desert storms,

sheltered with white cloaked

wing—

songs—

showered with jet—black bodkin

wind—

chants—

with double-edged eyes

with war—pING sting

I come from cloudbursts of zigzaggery and web—whisked eyelashes

I come from lunar—loomed lagoons and gulley—glazed tree gums

I come from monsoon—blanched dunes and maroon ruins cold-pressed by wet sandstone

I come from washboard—waisted hips and hand hemmed hamstrings

I come from herds of echoing illusions

dressed in mud—puddles

shedding

fresh—fleshed fears

into

trenches and traced by the

stench of colt—quartered

pure—bleds

I cross

coal—callused and clabbered up into an uncanny girl prickling in non—stickling milestone

minestrone canon conundrums until,

I assemble myself in tune with the acrid tidal of unwavering moons to awaken my aura of bloom

my lineage of weaving—warped—headed women,

my spirit^line distorted, but—

unbroken my bittersweet escape—i learn to

(unspoken)

simmer in silence

brain—braised corned stew

Notes:

This poem has special formatting. View a PDF of the poem here.

Source: Poetry (March 2025)