(i) penetrate
my arm is the potent organ of my femininity
i can reach my liver with my arm
when i signal [being inside me] i can bleed me
i can create a whole [crack] in my health through
which the fermenting liquids will leave
impregnating the river with their
reeking suficiencies
griefripeish gripadjustment.
i’ll rend your sun from it’s second shadow(earth)
and when so much dustlight is made of the world
i’ll take us to the favorite tomb and make us love after
sticking the long finger in our body like a common accusation
This selection comes from the book, elegía elegy, available from Anomalous Press. Purchase your copy here! Our curator for this selection is Tierney Bailey.
Raquel Salas Rivera is the 2018-19 Poet Laureate of Philadelphia. They are the inaugural recipient of the Ambroggio Prize and the Laureate Fellowship, both from the Academy of American Poets. They are also the author of six chapbooks and five full-length poetry books. Their fourth book, LO TERCIARIO/THE TERTIARY, was on the 2018 National Book Award Longlist and won the 2018 Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Poetry. Their fifth book, WHILE THEY SLEEP (UNDER THE BED IS ANOTHER COUNTRY), was published by Birds, LLC in 2019. They received their PhD in Comparative Literature and Literary Theory from the University of Pennsylvania. Raquel loves and lives for Puerto Rico, Philadelphia, and a world free of white supremacy.
Tierney Bailey is a Libra, a lover of science fiction and poetry, and studies Korean in her spare time. Currently, Tierney is an associate poetry editor at Sundress Publications, a copyeditor at Strange Horizons, and a freelance graphic designer. Tierney earned a Masters Degree in Writing, Literature, and Publishing from Emerson College. Tierney is most easily found screaming into the void on Twitter as @ergotierney.
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