What Rough Beast | Poem for April 18, 2018

Zoe Canner
tell me I’m lying

swallow on
command

relax your
tongue on

the floor of
your mouth

hard to do
while reading

impossible to do
while typing

or while tying knots
in rows making a

hammock and decorative
macrame.

all of these tastes
and fashions

the macrame
the mason jars

the gingham
will be useful as

weapons in the
revolution

Zoe Canner is an angry, anti-racist, 3rd Generation Holocaust Survivor. Her poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in Naugatuck River Review, The Laurel Review, and Arcturus of the Chicago Review of Books. She is an alumna of CalArts, Directors Lab West, and The Home School. She lives in Los Angeles where she indulges in hilly walks at dusk when the night-blooming jasmine is at its peak fragrance.

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