In No Certain Terms We Assassinate
then we love/ my own body an enchantment
no one really believes
in/ the middle of the room
there’s an apocalypse/ it’s carnival themed/ one woman
decked out in turquoise glitter bells hula hoops hula hoops
another body dances knives/ who knows how it will end
it’s hot here/ no cloud coverage no moist
heat coming beneath/ any moment might gulp us
mean desert flowers thistle & cunt/ has my life been intellectually thrilling
i wonder if it matters the thirst bodies all slick of blood
dance whatever of course/ there’s a fire breather
a lion taming/ there’s no more wilding/ mirrors
mirrors or it’s so bright everything seems reflected/ or we’re under water with four suns more suns than i remember going to sleep with/ everyone is having fun/ everyone is winning winning
nothing/ it seems/ surviving yet
roar roar roar
this prize is yours everyone is
going to die/ can you feel it/ the recognition
of what she is in other people’s eyes
In the Thrall of the Jaws of an Afternoon
there were only so many hiding places
my sister total image of defeat
my sister perfect bastard outside the rules
we play keep-away/ we keep wargods’ soul/ send his body away
the crowds love this game they think it’s temporary
for you i break each of his legs watch/ i breakbreakbreak
do you remember we used to tie strings around firefly legs
we’d forget to let them go do you think everyone else forgot
how to express truth there’s not enough water/ and there’s too much/ we’re surrounded we’ll drown we might not ever find land/ i pray for winter/ i don’t want/ this spoilt
this apocalypse/ an opportunity to equalize lyrically blue the blue segmented belly of a fat caterpillar that’ll break its own body to be a blue fat moth/ i think i’m going to kill them all/ i’m not even sorry about it/ cunts you’ve basked too long
let us enjoy what she says no one in love really believes love will end i think how true how tragic
we never called the other by name/ sister always sister my sister/ did we lose ourselves then
sister always my sister/ i dream nothing is unified/ what’s all this soft matter for
Leia Penina Wilson is proudly Samoan. When she’s not reading YA lit, she likes to bake, mix drinks, pet animals, and play Magic the Gathering. Her first book, i built a boat with all the towels in your closet (and will let you drown) is published by Red Hen Press.
