And here she is: thirst.
A parable about a drowning
man. A skull found by the edge
of a river. Gully of a mouth,
bank of a woman. What can
be filled with bird song alone?
The body craves. Contact. Salt
living like an eel on my tongue.
Whereas the pills are a chart
of little stars. Whereas chemistry
is a love song between two wards.
Whereas she told me: “you will
become more of who you are.”
Her name a net in which we
catch my self. The diagnosis
thumbs the pages of my spine:
a diagram of want marked
here. A warning. A prophecy
on brittleness. A fable on
the origins of heat
humming in commune
with my blood the skull,
its mouth cracked
open, miming “feed.”
Click here to read Dani Janae on the origin of the poem.
Image: “Skull”, In Hiatus, licensed under CC 2.0.
Dani Janae is a poet and journalist living and writing in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She earned her BA in Creative Writing from Allegheny College and returned home to Pittsburgh after graduating. Her poetry deals with the physical and emotional legacy of trauma and addiction, and the intersecting history of her identity as a black, lesbian, woman. Her work has been published by Argot Magazine, Pittsburgh Poetry Journal, Palette Poetry, Wax Nine Journal, Levee Magazine, Thin Air Magazine, and Slush Pile Magazine. She is a contributing writer at Autostraddle.
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