“clippings*” by Aurielle Marie

 here is an alphabet 
                 slicing open the belly of a boar. out come
 pulverized apples. vicodin. shoelaces. the neck of an artisanal soap maker.
                 there is tobacco in the cupboard and a stew of cigarettes boils on the stove.
 inside the tv set a woman scolds the circumference of your belly. another prays for your children... to a dead god. 
                 WE HAVE TAKEN JERUSALEM OFF THE TABLE
 this year i resolved only to be filled by my lover’s silicone
                 and god bless it i have
 made good on a few other promises
                 and’ve gotten better at lying about the rest
 TELL HIM I TOO HAVE A NUCLEAR BUTTON & ITS MUCH BIGGER & IT WORKS
                 under your pillow lives the imprint of a vibrator and a gun
 your friends stay over long as the roaches sleep in another room
                 you watch a volkswagen burn out the corner of your eye. when you turn it disappears
 you finally finally call a specialist for help
                 THEY ARE MAKING AMAZON RICHER & THE POST OFFICE DUMBER & POORER
 is it fair to call this new money, privilege? yours? it sweats blood into your pockets. each time
                 a man dies on this block you lift the mailbox arm and bake bread
 there one is pitching sideways in the cheap cold
                 and here you go keeping watch at an oven 
 & A VERY STABLE GENIUS AT THAT!
                 the phone grates your mothers throat into tiny pools of beet juice
 so small you don’t catch her staining
                 into oceans at the bottom of the compost bin.
 the dog is dying. the car has folded itself up into stacks of chrome with your brother inside
                 THE CONCEPT OF GLOBAL WARMING WAS CREATED BY AND FOR THE CHINESE
 here is the alphabet
                 threading a tree to its bark. the sky is cool to touch. the oceans are sweet.
 PEOPLE ARE PROUD TO SAY MERRY CHRISTMAS AGAIN                         
                 here it an alphabet piercing your cheek like a harpoon
 tethering your gums to the haunches of a sheriff's horse
                 damn those creatures
 damn this submission to the metal baton
                 damn the metal
 MERRY CHRISTMAS
                 damn the tinsel those tiny car parts. little machetes mispronouncing your inner thigh
 HAPPY NEW YEAR TO THE GREATEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD 
                 damn the confetti the shards of popsicle stick the throat pudding. damn the weeping.
 GREATEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD
                 on the television women count the corpses of palestinian children. Black girl’s skull is made metaphor. 
 COLLUSION    you cry      WITH RUSSIA into your amazon boxes and turn away 
                 here IS A TOTAL HOAX is an alphabet lifting your fingernails one by one              
 and place em in conflicts of a hundred and forty. the landlords stand back. they stand by your pockets. they’re watching
                  you make it past the guillotine this week. this week.
 here is an alphabet 
                  changing the stories of your favorite gods telling them inside out
 START FALLING IN LOVE WITH 
 here is an alphabet           here go   YOUR PRESIDENT   english doing its slurry work 
                 HAPPY NEW YEAR! WE ARE MAKING AMERICA GREAT AGAIN
 FASTER THAN ANYONE can flee the THOUGHT POSSIBLE! rough blade of a terror machine. 
                 how the hell in this mess     can anyone find north    can say a true thing   can muster hands to a fanged
 WE WON!                              WE WON!                                          WE WON!
  
  
 * THIS POEM CONTAINS ACTUAL TWEETS FROM THE 45TH PRESIDENT'S PERSONAL TWITTER HANDLE.  REALLY. 

Aurielle Marie (they/she) is a Black, Atlanta-born, Queer poet, essayist, and social strategist. She was selected by Fatimah Asghar as the 2019 winner of the Ploughshares Emerging Writer Award. Aurielle has received invitations to fellowships from Tin House, The Watering Hole, Pink Door, and served as the 2019 Writer-in-Residence for Lambda Literary. Aurielle’s essays and poems have been featured in or are forthcoming from The Guardian, TriQuarterly, Adroit Journal, Teen Vogue, BOAAT Magazine, Essence, and many other platforms. Their poetry debut, Gumbo Ya Ya, won the 2020 Cave Canem Poetry Prize and is forthcoming from the University of Pittsburgh Press on September 21, 2021.