This selection, chosen by guest editor JJ Rowan, is from an identity polyptych by Tameca L. Coleman (The Elephants 2021).
content warning for domestic violence
Mom told me once that he was jealous I was coming
and jealous when
I was there
and he had even punched her
in the pregnant belly.
I must have bounced around.
The wonder and magic
and safety of the womb.
Meca’Ayo (Tameca L Coleman) is a queer poetry-centric multi-genre writer, singer and artist who currently lives in Denver Colorado. Their writing and photography have been featured in literary magazines, art exhibits, journals, anthologies, and other venues and publications. Their first book, an identity polyptych, a multi-part, multi-genre work that explores familial estrangement, identity as a mixed-race Black person, and movement towards reconciliation, debuted from The Elephants on the Salish Sea Fall 2021.
JJ Rowan is a queer nonbinary poet and dancer whose writing and movement practices have developed largely out of collaborative approaches and the pursuit of deep connection. They are looking for the places where the written line and the lines of the moving body intersect, where genre blurs and remixes and reboots, and where style and role reach maximum fluidity and deeper capacity. Their chapbook, a simple verb, is available from Bloof Books. You can follow their handwriting and movement projects on Instagram.
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