The Poetry Project

Two Poems

Jen Fisher

rubble implies something was there

to immerse
forms a thoughtxxxxxexamines
if it were the room where it happened
it becomes the examine room
or examine van or the examine invisible thought/ the bodyxxxxthe borders
operating under duress/ the urgency of the momentxxxxout/ get out/ lead
to into/ the arms are safe/ I am not here to/ hurt me in my past/ I know/ I am
trained to react to danger/ I couldn’t manage to pull offxxxxthe ethics of the after/ sadly
our revolution isxxxxconservative/ the personal ethos are out got out/ I am NOT
a slave/ rather enslaved got in/ all the little deaths throughout/xxgot out/ the
dayxxxxgot out/ the territory of the imagination is inxxxxgot inxxxxthe most
importantxxxxxthe most importantxxxxxthing to protect/ the territory of
the imagination

I cant take him home
the way I thought
he was, he is the way
he thinks he is.

it’s the first day of august NYC

I swore
and pissed behind the trash
I melted candles in the car
i put an ashtray on my dashboard
I wiped my pussy with witch hazel
I told him I didn’t trust him
then told him I loved him
my enthusiasm is blank
I stopped saying I believe-
it is better to know
or not know
or make-up
the lipstick only stays on my teeth
its cheap
I’m cheap
I’m 400 dollars sort of rent
I cant smoke inside

Work of the Friends & Lovers Feminist Reading Group

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