Somewhere in the crevices of your blood hides/another fist another/cornea another/encyclopedia of exit signs/neon guiding you out/I learned how to speak from you/I am learning how to breathe out of/ away from silence
Inspired by Audre Lorde’s “Sister Outsider”
I build a step ladder with all of my bones/pulled out as though slow cooked inside me/this is the only way to get home
Inspired by Eli Clare’s “Exile and Pride: Disability, Queerness, and Liberation”
there/there/there/clinging to tongue/tongue/tongue/a howl so big/big/big/it causes traffic accidents/wind storms/hurricane-wrapped-tornado/an allergic reaction/ a summons/ right right/there/ pull it out/ all the answers can be found in the length of a scream
Inspired by “Shock Treatment” by Karen Finley
If you hunt inside a body/ rummaging past the inflamed mosquito bites/ misspelled doctor’s notes/ collection of scabs and lists of words to look up/ you will find a peep hole toward a reflection/ of a part of you never reached/ sometimes books save lives/ this book/ saved mine
Inspired by Max Wolf Valerio’s “The Testosterone Files”
This is how to disintegrate/grab dandelion with head like frizzy wind mill/make a wish/you do not know the answer to/blow/then crawl away
inspired by David Wojnarowicz’s “Close to the Knives A Memoir of Disintegration”
On Saturday, October 12th, I will be signing copies of “Everything Grows” at the Rainbow Book Fair at 2pm at Three Rooms Press’s table.
Join me at the LGBTQ Center located at 208 W. 13th St. in NYC and celebrate LGBTQ writers and publishers. There will be poetry readings and panel discussions too!
Lips become another planet/military frostbite/a war against shapes/she/is/only as alive/as the hair/bundled around the earthworms/continuing to grow even though/she no longer/can
Inspired by…….”Kissing Dead Girls” by Daphne Gottlieb
Aimee Herman 