two poems

 

headless

headless                         covered in dust
i don’t know where to go         from here
so deep the chasm      between malice
& hunger            does a being punish
another being                  for needing
it’s obvious        the punishment is the
crime

headless              covered in dust            was
a mouse in the corner                  before
& now                  something else              a
question or a current of energy              that
previously wore a body

one heart is not enough to last through
so much death

 

 

 

any trapped thing

sometimes the night                  sometimes
sometimes the breath               sometimes
the sun in the eyes        & the sound of a
certain bird     the way the air moves &
the way it smells           sits on the tongue

or a voice             remembered                 a
hoof-beat on packed earth         what is
unbearable         & what is refuge            &
what is left when all else is gone

a wish to fall into            to be held          in
beloved arms        but it’s too much
what is left to give             when i’ve been
boiled away         who is left to ask
when every gift has a price

the body consumes itself             is that clear
devours itself                   like any trapped thing

 

 

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Jay Besemer is a poet, performer, artist and occasional editor whose books and chapbooks include The Ways of the Monster (forthcoming,*KIN(D)/The Operating System 2018), Crybaby City (Spuyten Duyvil), Telephone, Chelate (both Brooklyn Arts Press), and Aster to Daylily (Damask Press). He was a finalist for the 2017 Publishing Triangle Award for Trans and Gender-Variant Literature. He tweets frequently @divinetailor and sometimes does things on Tumblr http://jaybesemer.tumblr.com.