Hal Y. Zhang
themaligned (click me) You think thebad words are undesirable, but it is of the body, untethered to thought. and thesick you sneer at— that, too, is of the body. What is the shape of freedom, the object thereof, if I cannot expel therage bursting inside when the pressure is too great against eyelids nailbeds theopens squeezing, squeezing shredded citrus whorls of sanity into roaring tides of stained tigers clanking between my teeth bloody bellies full of thesharp things no polite company dares say. You may not listen, but I will still scream, scream breath of my lungs bellowing wild fire until I have emptied so much the remains boil helpless foam and the body sags as a spent candle. Perhaps then you will believe all thepains in me is not to scold but because it cannot be borne.
energia
that thrumming when you’re near
the strong nuclear force
the strange attractor field
I can’t help meeting your lips just
for the mosquito electrocution
thrill ringing ringling
bros. snap crackle
popcorn stiff seed to
blooming butter oh
I can’t believe
it’s not
what you taste.
Hal Y. Zhang is a lapsed physicist who splits her time between the east coast of the United States and the Internet, where she writes at halyzhang.com. Her chapbook AMNESIA will be published by the Newfound Emerging Poets Series.
© 2020