This selection, chosen by Guest Curator H.V. Cramond, is from & watch how easily the jaw sings of godby Ashley Cline, released by Glass Poetry Press in 2021.
hungry for orchids, or how your mouth blooms in august
consume me piecemeal / halve my body like honeycrisp apples or something more holy lonely lonely lonely, love, love me reconstruct me at sea level & call it a homecoming, teacup girl— milk-drunk on orchids & starving consume me piecemeal / splinter my bones into tinderbox fledglings dressed up in gossamer fur & call me wilderness call me impossible call me we hurtle we hurtle we hurtle we hurt, teacup girl— bury your calcium howls here, beneath the blueberries & halogen of my typewriter teeth & consume me piecemeal / bring my hands to your lips & watch how the earth builds us a god we can call whole.
An avid introvert, full-time carbon-based life-form and aspiring himbo, Ashley Cline‘s poetry has appeared in 404 Ink, Okay Donkey, Wrongdoing Magazine, and HAD—among others. A Pushcart nominee and Best of the Net 2020 finalist, her debut chapbook & watch how easily the jaw sings of god is available now (Glass Poetry Press), while should the earth reclaim you (Bone & Ink Press) and cowabungaly yours at the end of the world (Gutslut Press) are forthcoming. Once, in the summer of 2019, she crowd-surfed an inflatable sword to Carly Rae Jepsen, and her best at all-you-can-eat sushi is 5 rolls in 11 minutes.
H.V. Cramond holds an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and was the founding Poetry Editor of Requited Journal for 10 years. In 2018, she helped pass the Survivor’s Bill of Rights as the Illinois organizer for Rise. Recent work can be found in Soundless Poetry, Ignavia, death hums, Crack the Spine, BlazeVOX, Menacing Hedge, Adanna, So to Speak, Thank You for Swallowing, Dusie, Masque & Spectacle, Matter, and at https://hvcramond.com
