Holly Burdorff
What Iz Politix?
A plump red strawberry resting lightly on my lips
: iz this politix?
Me to students, saying (I am afraid of this President)
: iz that one politix? Two?
How so when my yawning womb’s up for grabz?
How so when I, when I last moved
from one greengrass to another greengrass
in this country, I gave up many rights
and human comforts:
(not enough docs for your partz in these partz)
(ok)
(also keep your mouth shut ‘n’ your knees too)
(ok).
And why iz my pussy always politix.
Never the men with the cocks.
Always seemed politix was: allocate reve-
nue incentivize (this way!) (no
this way!) et cetera blah blah,
NOT (spray the rivers with oil) (fuck the poor)
(shake DC haphazzo till it vomitz fascism).
To say NO to this iz, suddenly, politix.
None of this was politix for a really long time:
some thingz were just rights,
other thingz were just wrongs.
Lately I’m looking for our line
in the sand but the sand
iz full of head-shaped holes.
BREAKING: Facts are now a politix.
My x’s and z’s are here to make a why.
Addendum, my heart iz BREAKING.
Addendum, nothing stranger than a heart.
Holly Burdorff‘s work appears in recent or forthcoming issues of Quarterly West, Duende, and The Common. She is a VIDA volunteer and recently served as art & design editor for volume 43 of Black Warrior Review.
SUBMIT to What Rough Beast via our SUBMITTABLE site.
If you want to support the mission and work of Indolent Books, consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Indolent Arts Foundation, a 501(c)(3) charity.