A patient's patience
Sancte Michael Archangele, defende nos in proelio... (recited until 1964) |
She wants me
close enough
to cut off my tongue
and poison
the hand with which I greet
my grandchildren
and vote.
Nothing pleases her vanity more
than eyes and fingers
with which to rewrite
the collapse
of my lungs.
She can do it all
but make me
breathe.
close enough
to cut off my tongue
and poison
the hand with which I greet
my grandchildren
and vote.
Nothing pleases her vanity more
than eyes and fingers
with which to rewrite
the collapse
of my lungs.
She can do it all
but make me
breathe.
Sergio Ortiz is a retired English literature professor and bilingual queer poet. His recent credits include Spanish audio poems in GATO MALO Editing, an important Spanish Caribbean publication; Maleta Ilegal, a South American journal; Indolent Books' HIV HERE AND NOW. His poems are also forthcoming in Breath and Shadows and Unlikely Stories.