south florida graffiti
the wall where everyone comes
when everyone first comes
is up for adoption
shark-toothed driftwood holds
Spanish-wrapped babies and
enough debris in the lemongrass
to build monuments
to the people who are supposed to live here
how beautiful says the woman who doesn’t see color
to the sherbert-sweating diamonds
to the melon-chewing iguanas
macaws sing in sirens and
the city collects its spine
one vertebrae at a time
behind a glass shield of ten-dollar doughnuts
vegan devil’s food goji cacao
or some shit like that, thick
and dripping with white icing and the glow of freedom from cruelty
and red dye number five
can you believe the way . . .?
she hangs questions from the pepper tree
and commiserates with kings while
across the street, hurricaned women
are lighting fresh candles
and remembering their sons
JOSEPHINE BLAIR is a Miami-based writer and activist. She is the girl writing poems and reading dystopian fiction on the Surfside beach. Her work can be found in Meniscus Literary Journal and elsewhere.
Twyckenham Notes 