ISSN: 1941-4137
POETRY THAT ENACTS THE ARTISTIC AND CREATIVE PURITY OF GLASS
POETRY THAT ENACTS THE ARTISTIC AND CREATIVE PURITY OF GLASS
Kay Ulanday Barrett is a poet, performer, and cultural strategist. K. has featured at The Lincoln Center, The U.N., Symphony Space, The Poetry Foundation, The Poetry Project, Princeton University, Tucson Poetry Festival, NY Poetry Festival, The Dodge Poetry Foundation, The Hemispheric Institute, & Brooklyn Museum. They've received fellowships from MacDowell, Lambda Literary Review, Drunken Boat, VONA, The Home School, and Macondo. Their contributions are found in The New York Times, Asian American Literary Review, NYLON, Vogue, PBS News Hour, The Advocate, The Rumpus, Foglifter, Apogee, Friction, VIDA Review, and more. Their second poetry book, More Than Organs (Sibling Rivalry Press) was published this spring 2020.
When I'm trying not to jump like my brothers
1.
because cayden called 911 / because Ki-tay couldn't cry no more / because there are bois chests that house hearts / for a world / that can't stand their gasp / when leisure walk means to be / harassed / dragged by hair / kicked in stalls / torso clash discarded to tile / dudes sneer faggot / when I am not faggot enough / whole / men strike stares on subway / whole men / tell me tales of their penises / like correction is only punctuation / of one night / one minute that's all it'll take / next / poof / I'll be a darling wife / my set of teeth / a bland picket fence
2.
the first time I wore a men's suit as drag / mother kept crying / why did we / even come to this country / as though I was the war / as though / I was bomb backdrop in her dreams / the first time I cut my hair / short / follicles to floor / mother crowed / where's my little girl? / where's my child? / picture me on my knees / pleading / to prove I wasn't ghost
3.
there are no gay children / in the heart of mothers like mine / just mistakes / killable kin / my people / don't make headlines / do you know what it is / to get a FB message / twitter / Instagram post / text message with / the face of the dead / friend / pupil glare grief / but you laughed with them / weeks earlier / months earlier / how / I saw them / at the protest or fundraiser
4.
I was about 18 / when my friend A. flung / themself off / a cliff / brown bois don't turn / into men / without fighting men on stoops / blood varnished at house parties / by men cousins / by men uncles / a teenager / thought better to face / flat rocks on California bluff / could be more solace / than frowns of blood family
5.
a bluff is a double entendre for precipice / as in calling your / sometimes considered scam / a sham / bluff also known as / out loud / as forthright / see also: bordering a river / coastal crest / my gender so brazen / a flow / we must be silenced / surrendered / can you hear us / shattering into the ground
Glass: A Journal of Poetry is published monthly by Glass Poetry Press.
All contents © the author.
All contents © the author.
