The Birds Do Not Sow, the Lillies Do Not Spin

JERROD SCHWARZ

soft gore in a glass slipper.

walk with me; drag me up the lectern
and read out loud the different shapes:
stitches bunching up, callous peeling off
in the shower, little holes where my body gave up.

tendonmilk to make the room more humid.

‍ ‍say you’re a cave made of eyelids.
tell me to kick the pew benches
until I slip on my leaking body,
until someone wraps me in wet blankets.

a dove where my foot used to be:

a swan wrapped around my femur:
‍ ‍
holding the leftside organs in a squirrel nest;
‍ ‍
the spasmsong of twitching toes;

the shy wind between my knees and the road.

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JERROD SCHWARZ’s poetry has appeared in VICE, PANK, New Republic, and others. His first book No Name Atkins was published by CLASH Books in 2020, and his most recent chapbook What the Barn Can’t Kill was published by the Blasted Tree Press. His comics have appeared in The Offing, Shenandoah, and others. In his free time, he plays Elden Ring and watches Succession on repeat.