Origin Story
I rose from marsh mud
I oozed from tabernacle brack
amid caterwaultails
gushthrushes deltalillies
sluiced with lack swaddled
in slack I rose from the low
scar of my momma’s belly
son of a fracker
a quiet motherfucker
tucked into sins original
baptized babe in a callous chalice
in viscous liquid
dry as puss and snot
and the blood of a vicious bent nose
I leaked shame
from cracks and crevices
was slain by the sleeze
of blame embossed by blithe writhing
of scarcity my million tries
to shake loose
the chaff of a name
sift and reduce to thick truth
left with two vexing advices
your body is a gift you have to live through
Note from the author: The first italicized line is Lorine Niedecker’s. The second is Shane McCrae’s.