Post Canvas #6 by David Goodrum
Autocannibalism by Sabbi Gale-Donnelly
To eat anger like bread. Rip tufts of fermentation, harvesting
chest to cheek-
through this recycled emotion I will find
self-sufficiency.
I cannot wake. Terms of painful rest have left me exhausted
& mad. I wrap days in sheets, hushing time to sleep.
This year, I have hurt. This year, I have slept.
This year, I have learned the art of self-consumption.
It starts with a lick,
lollipopping tears off lips, curling a basinous tongue,
with the realization that not one drop can be afforded loss.
Cry like a baby & suckle sadness. Let what’s lush osmosize &
whither into the mattress, a stain. Without direction
thoughts crash bumper to bumper, pile up esophageal
homing bird ideation returns to the wrong place,
settling heavy around the heart
as fear.
Body rendered vertiginous,
lay with the promise of a less painful tomorrow. As shock sets
followed by survival, so builds awareness
of the very edible anger
molding on weighted breast. To eat & eat & eat
something this earthy
is a reclaiming of life itself.
chest to cheek-
through this recycled emotion I will find
self-sufficiency.
I cannot wake. Terms of painful rest have left me exhausted
& mad. I wrap days in sheets, hushing time to sleep.
This year, I have hurt. This year, I have slept.
This year, I have learned the art of self-consumption.
It starts with a lick,
lollipopping tears off lips, curling a basinous tongue,
with the realization that not one drop can be afforded loss.
Cry like a baby & suckle sadness. Let what’s lush osmosize &
whither into the mattress, a stain. Without direction
thoughts crash bumper to bumper, pile up esophageal
homing bird ideation returns to the wrong place,
settling heavy around the heart
as fear.
Body rendered vertiginous,
lay with the promise of a less painful tomorrow. As shock sets
followed by survival, so builds awareness
of the very edible anger
molding on weighted breast. To eat & eat & eat
something this earthy
is a reclaiming of life itself.
Sabbi Gale-Donnelly (she/they) is a poet, activist and teacher from Westchester, NY. She has been recognized by the National Scholastic Art & Writing Awards and the Northern Westchester Examiner, and is the founder and president of Walter Panas High School's Live Poets' Society. She currently serves as co-editor-in-chief of the social justice initiative Turning the Page and as the head of the Education Sector for the nonforprofit Promise We Share, which works to support local after-school programs and promote the development of empathy and communal involvement in youth through social-justice-based curriculum.
David Goodrum (Corvallis, Oregon) has had photography published in various art/literature journals and juried into many art festivals. He hopes to create a visual field that transports you away from daily events and into a place that delights in an intimate view of the world. See additional work at www.davidgoodrum.com.
