“I am going to write a poem today”

*Warning weird and the first poem in months. Literary criticism invited*

I am going to write a poem today,
lit by the flickering memory of your gestures,
hunched and buckled, hard-bellied
with tweezers in-hand, oddly akin to
the staunchly stubborn postures we both have taken,
molded our bodies over barbed-wire
that we may escape comparison
to the soft tenderness of a raw sore.
I am going to write a poem today,
Because I feel like punching bruises,
Peeling up the encrusted corners of scabs, and
Plucking each word like an unwanted body hair,
snatching it painfully from the taunt layers,
buried underneath who I’ve learned to be
amidst expectations that guild the silence
in unmistakable shades of anticipation and wax burn.
I am going to write a poem today,
Even though I let us pace ourselves in circles,
Tangential, smooth, going nowhere
while we will poke at spaces in-between
the bent and contorted, turning inwards, spines
that have formed pustules not-quite beneath the surface
and pretend that we don’t have ingrown hairs.

Andrea Gibson (updated)

I've been spending a lot of time with a girl who's into slam poetry and Judaism over the last couple of weeks. She's not going to be around much anymore, which explains why I actually have time do some posting, but I thought I'd kick off my (hopefully) more frequent batch of postings with a couple clip of someone she turned me on to. Oddly enough, the very next person I met was also a fan and gave me one of her CDs, so I guess I was meant to fall in love with Andrea's work and I did. enjoy.

Andrew by Andrea Gibson
(A gender poem)


Blue Blanket by Andrea Gibson
(A sexual assault poem)


For Eli by Andrea Gibson
(A war poem)


Swingset by Andrea Gibson
(A gender poem)


Dive by Andrea Gibson
(a life poem)


Wasabi by Andrea Gibson
(A love poem)


Emergency Room by Andrea Gibson
(A suicide poem)


Walmart by Andrea Gibson
(A coming out poem)


Say Yes by Andrea Gibson
(A love poem)