Jen Mei Soong
Nocturne with Sula Peace
Malik Thompson
blackberries crushed
in a dying woman’s
palm wand-thin
wrists slurry
of viper spit
& seeds part
your lips &
out goes
the nigger joke belly
laughs seared
into the gristle
pig’s meat
ran through
with thorns
in a dying woman’s
palm wand-thin
wrists slurry
of viper spit
& seeds part
your lips &
out goes
the nigger joke belly
laughs seared
into the gristle
pig’s meat
ran through
with thorns
sweet beast
sing with me
the nightshade
hymnal beneath
a veil of rust
scraped
from a withered god’s
vacant throne
O feral empress
of gold-leaf
& soil
your beloved
bathes in
hellflame
basks in
hot air
& isolation
casts embers
in your garden
of thorned
fruit & roses
yes same as
your uncle
it’s all gone
to ash
so die quietly
renegade
rest now
fugitive ghost
Malik Thompson is a Black queer man from Washington, DC. His work is featured, or forthcoming, in Cobra Milk, Sundog Lit, Diode, MQR Mixtape, Voicemail Poems, Poet Lore, and other places. He has received support from Lambda Literary, Obsidian Foundation, Brooklyn Poets, Cave Canem, and other organizations. He can be found on Instagram via the handle @latesummerstar.