Let Us Have Our Own Suffering
let us deny the way our lips curve around others’ mouths
defined in terms of lack
what if we schluck away any semblance of holier ground
& decide nothing is worth our trouble
everyone we meet needs to be loved endlessly
blooded poinsettias so loud and dark
let us invert who we are in a world that survives
just as the rain revises the earth
taking everything written & unwritten
then melting it all equally into damp smudges of oil
or newly-fleshed pelts—& isn’t there something beautiful
in knowing we can laugh our gothic laughs
the snare of medusa brushing our corneas like taffy—
sexual deviance & the immense curling mass of snakes
the ocean as our auditor we drudge up all the hidden
grotesqueries: take us into your damp folds
layer by layer until we’re salt of the earth & our ashes
are sliding wet & jupiter-bound
let us travel to space in fine bone china
little flecks of gold chipping off and mixing inside us
HANNAH V WARREN is a doctoral student at the University of Georgia where she studies poetry and speculative narratives. She is the author of two chapbooks: [re]construction of the necromancer from Sundress Publications (2020) and Southern Gothic Corpse Machine from Carrion Bloom Books (forthcoming 2022). Her works have appeared in Crazyhorse, Gulf Coast, Passages North, and Fairy Tale Review, among others.