against and after Amiri Baraka
where are the switchblade poems long-haired crazy-eyed leather-jacket poems
poems to find the man screaming
communist kike
at my father where are the poems
to braid that man’s tongue into wedding rings to bring me his teeth and belt where
are the poems like molotov cocktails
9 to 5 poems dodging hospital bills over-
caffeinated
and underslept where are the bloody-fingered poems
one-handed sobbing against the shoe rack
i want prozac poems
benzodiazepine poems poems to wake up in the er pull ivs
from their arms and kiss every security guard
i want a poem with vomit on its teeth and a man in its fists
give me riot poems forest poems in subway cars
hiding their southern accents give me porch-light poems
all drawl and mosquito bite give me poems of dust and nail
carpenter poems to fix my grandmother’s roof to overturn
tables and leave the stone unmoved
where are the poems to forgive this anger
poems to dance whiskey-bright in philadelphia kitchens
to hear again my father’s lullabies listen
after the hospital m— brought me purple irises
[they are still on my shelf by the window] give me poems
like purple irises
to grow and wilt
picked by the hand
of a dearest friend
Zachariah Claypole White
Zachariah Claypole White holds a BA from Oberlin College and an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College. His work has appeared in, or is forthcoming from, numerous publications including Bourbon Penn, Weird Horror, and The Hong Kong Review. His awards include Flying South's 2021 Best in Category for poetry and a nomination for a Pushcart Prize. Zachariah teaches at the Community College of Philadelphia and the Writing Institute at Sarah Lawrence College.
