by Cassandra Myers
(Content Warnings: body horror, blood, pregnancy)
under Cuban moon, his abuela’s ghost
translated blood’s panic room. my crawlspace
where fluid reigns, his misread occupation.
there will be no pregnancy, he castellanos.
my defensive english, our stumbling tears
juvenile collision with no language to blame
all I wanted was to walk a silent beach, a man’s
azure around my waist. instead, a rumor inside me.
Cásate conmigo, he hibiscuses behind my ear. careless is
the girl who thinks herself the rider. cariñoso is
the man who calls the doctor — tia’s prima, mama’s
eldest sister. boiling hierba. his mess to sweep.
morning’s empty bed, I unrest a reef’s comfort
fretting in groves of braincoral, its million polypping
mouths like wombmoulds, parrot fish ate out
my percolate and fan worms eyelash in my canals.
I return to night jasmine auditing its petals, a pill
on the nightstand, his head in his hands. I fly home,
red finds me at elevation where angels gossip
his abuela's ghost pruning a rose, polishing her knife
_________
1. Parrot fish spwan in massive groups under the full moon, bashing their heds together
CASSANDRA MYERS (they/she/he) is an award winning poet, performer, dancer, illustrator, counselor, and youth worker from Tkaronto, Ontario. As a queer, non-binary, South-Asian-Italian, crip, mad, survivor of sexual violence, Cassandra's work is cinematic and juicy with its critical anti-oppressive eye.
SHOTGUN WEDDING FOR BRAIN CORALS AND PARROT FISH can be found in Augur Magazine Issue 7.3.
