by Angelica Urquizo
Living Among Fascists: He Does Not Need to be Told That He is Fat
There is pollen everywhere, spikes like spokes on a wheel
only straight up into the air, not smooth
like the curve of your spine. There is no spine. There is no
dignity. There is no truth out there. Not anymore.
I vomited twice when I heard the news, that the biopsy
is malignant. No, that the autopsy’s complete.
There is pollen everywhere, spores that ignite
like a miniature apocalypse across my lips.
I am struggling here in this tomb of walking dead.
They are everywhere. They are loud.
They whine like children
who don’t know how to squint
when they look at the sun.
My mouth is not good anymore.
I float these days. I float high above it.
I am decimated by the ghosts of people
I thought I knew.
I am fat and sad and can no longer
walk through walls.
John Dorroh insists on living in a world where Good triumphs over Evil. His poetry is his elixir for dealing with the horrible reality of a numbing political fiasco. He is currently working on a collection titled Anthem, which will be his personal manifesto. He’s had several hundred poems published in over 125 journals but continues to wake up each morning on fire. “Too much to say and too little time,” he said.
Angelica Urquizo is a poet seeking magic in the mundane, finding a great deal of inspiration from the natural world, mythology, shadow work and the human experience. She explores her expression mainly through poetry but also through collage, photography, and whichever craft project she’s drawn to at a given time. She is earning her MFA in Creative Writing and Poetics at University of Washington Bothell and has poetry in Moss Puppy Magazine, Stripes Literary Magazine and Spark to Flame. You can find her on instagram: @acraftyname.