ISSN: 1941-4137
POETRY THAT ENACTS THE ARTISTIC AND CREATIVE PURITY OF GLASS
POETRY THAT ENACTS THE ARTISTIC AND CREATIVE PURITY OF GLASS
Emma Bolden is the author of three full-length collections of poetry — House Is An Enigma (forthcoming from Southeast Missouri State University Press), medi(t)ations (Noctuary Press, 2016) and Maleficae (GenPop Books, 2013) — and four chapbooks. The recipient of a 2017 Creative Writing Fellowship from the NEA, her work has appeared in The Best American Poetry, The Best Small Fictions, and such journals as the Mississippi Review, The Rumpus, StoryQuarterly, Prairie Schooner, New Madrid, TriQuarterly, the Indiana Review, Shenandoah, the Greensboro Review, and The Journal. She currently serves as Associate Editor-in-Chief for Tupelo Quarterly.
In America We Have Only the Present Tense
How can I speak from inside of this language is the enemy’s
thread unspooling meaning from words is this
the oppressor’s language threads the constitution
of a body politic how can I pray
is metaphor blasted by buckshot bleeding is metaphor
the bullet bursting aorta inside we are all reddened by the same
blood is the oppressor’s language unspooling the meaning
from a cage is a cage is a can’t be broken by the caged will
to be free how can I speak I the enemy says song still
exists as a way to justify the cage how can I speak
when my voice is uncaged by the color of my own skin white
is the oppressor’s language is the country where prayers are burning
Glass: A Journal of Poetry is published monthly by Glass Poetry Press.
All contents © the author.
All contents © the author.
