This work by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
after 31 years of loving in the war years
My City Is A Hard Femme
when I left Worcester, I took the cracked sidewalks' smirk with me,
the sexy guts of the girl gang of wild weed trees
that would bust through all the vacant lots like a bank robbery,
kicking the door down with guns and grin of getting everything for free.
I’m as hard-assed as every lovely broken thing in this town,
as every donut shop that’ll tell you off in a heartbeat, every Economy Fruits bursting with
day-old sweet juice, every pretty dress with just one fucked-up thing
dug out of the Auburn TJ Maxxx quadruple markdown clearance rack.
My city is a lovely tough girl
asking you what the fuck you’re looking at, a boarded up warehouse
hoarding secrets like homeless fire roaring inside,
her redbrick and vinyl siding nailed up all over me
protecting all that explodes from something so long abandoned.
for chanelle gallant, after qwo-li driskill’s “Nothing like a Love Sonnet for Greeley, Colorado/ Something like a Love Poem For Greeley Queers.”
crip non haiku
he says you didn't seem like yourself that day
I say this is my self
crunching my forehead to stay in the palace of words
lamaaze breathing through pain spikes
asking for a vicodin with a shaking hand
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