By Elizabeth Acevedo
voice of incoming 2 express train
pray herself altar
contort mouth shotgun:
sawed off a saw
soften tongue songbird
hands mosaicked mirrors
donning skin like battle gear
dawning skin like evening gown
this name pinned on her shoulders;
a heavy mantle. an incantation.
Source: Poetry (February 2021)
Poet Bio
More By This Poet
Ode to the Head Nod
the slight angling up of the forehead
neck extension quick jut of chin
meeting the strangers’ eyes
a gilded curtsy to the sunfill in another
in yourself tithe of respect
in an...
Manhunt or Ode to First Kisses
it was always the older kids
running to Riverside,
hiding behind trees and underneath
jungle gyms, holding their breath
in the darkness as the other team
tried to find them.
I could not wait to be old enough;
a captor’s arms clasping.
Manhunt, manhunt 1, 2, 3.
This poem...
More Poems about Living
Meanwhile
From the Sky
When I die,
bury me in the sky—
no one is fighting over it.
Children are playing soccer
with empty bomb shells
(from the sky I can see them).
A grandmother is baking
her Eid makroota and mamoul
(from the sky I can taste them).
Teens are writing love...
More Poems about Relationships
Meanwhile
Water of the womb
It is winter in Anchorage, and I am only as tall as the shoveled snowbanks in the parking lot of the pink apartments. I am old enough to have chores but young enough not to fully understand frostbite. It is...