The Poetry Project

Nonlinear guesses

Ashleigh A. Allen

xxxxxxand hyperbole hanging from hooks
xxxxxxHoots and bullets pepper the wind
xxxxxxcloud the sun’s game
What is the all in all you ask for?
Howl a catch xxxpurple a rider or reason
The drink is odorless and you hesitate
Summer haunts early spring
A long naked arm weaves
common cosmos xxxxxcookery
a double helix of petition
and floored vegetable peels
Fears come from behind
now xxxxxdisenchanted
you arexxxx only xxxxpartially
the monster you think you are
Animal in your mouth
chest xxxYou disagree
with the way other people shit
The unexpected north
finds grace on its knees xxxI’m born
tied to a hologramed war
A slow casualty in few words
Hands drop bread and drum
The rain speaks to my fingertips
I bite and beginxxxxxxxxxx I lay
in bed xxam quiet in my wrist work
puppetry and imaginings of chin
crowd me in the dark xxsend echoes
through a field of stretch xxxxrelease
I am both coming and going

Work from Space XXX: Space, Eros and Colonial Entanglements with Daisy Atterbury and Naima Yael Tokunow

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