Four minutes, thirty-three seconds
Precious Okoyomon
Issue 2
Poetry
I had an unhappy act the other day
I went to go see a white man about my mental health
I get it im here im not really here
What does it matter
spells
burning
away _ emotion
Detourn the innocence _ singularity
The only thing i can control are my emotions if i try hard enough
abandon_ tenderness
Shifting flames speaking in the air
My stupid memory _irreducible
I mourn myself
Let the silence undo you release
Reduce the living body and then i’m back to myself
unclenching my jaw
Analyze the patterns of completing object
bodies without bodies the final object_esc
_it is necessary to uproot oneself
to cut down the tree and make of it a cross_ then to carry it every day_
remember this
What mind denies its history?
Become fragments
I am floating on present breath
Take me back to where i belong
A wound. Womb. Void.
KEEP FORGETTING I AM THE VOID
IF YOU THINK YOU TOOK
SOMETHING FROM ME
I AM FLATTERED AND U CAN HAVE IT
I WILL BE WAITING
BLACKENED FAITH
THE SKIN STAYS AND THE ORGANS MOVE
EXTRAORDINARY TEETH LOOKING FOR FUCKABLE ORIFICES
A WALL INSIDE OF MYSELF IT SPEAKS NEW LANGUAGES OF MY TWISTED HEARTS
TRANSPARENCY
_ I am afraid_things r getting fuzzy now_low- res simulation _ our minds flood with light _ silence _ I wanted to kill but had nothing to kill but myself_ To accept a void in ourselves is supernatural_ had i become a mystic in the memory _ to kill what hides_ in violent distance of self i am capable of imagining what i fear and laying it to rest_the suppression of knoweldge_ the suppression of self_ look i know WHAT I WANT AND I SWEAR TO YOU I’M GOING TO GET IT_ i am attached to the world and i will not be embarrassed by the situation of self _ insert affirming blackness, browness, queerness_ ah yes the tedium.. What is more frightful than to die in a nightmare?
lay down there
Fill it with red, orange, green.
I put the earth in my mouth.
Sustainable thoughts only
I plant myself in myself _ the hungriest woman in the world is obviously me .. duh
HACKED FROM LIGHT I AM TAKING YOU WITH ME_ GALVANIZED SPIRITS_ WE HAVE A LOT TO DO.
I can take everything ur coming at me with
EVERYTHING WANTS TO KILL U AND U SHOULD BE AFRAID
Decontextualize
/ what is the function of fear / pre-sky / emit light - yes like that
Radical modernity requires something of me
Whiteness requires something from me
The world requires something of me
I am looking for a place to lie down
I tilt the sky until all i can see r the clouds black n thick _ no ownership _ no requirements
Precious Okoyomon is a Brooklyn based poet and artist. She is the author of Ajebota (Bottlecap Press, 2016). Her writing has been performed and exhibited at the Baltic Triennial in Lithuania, the Contemporary Art Center in Cincinnati, Exo Exo in Paris and MoMA PS1 in New York. Her writing has been published in Hobart, Fanzine, New York Tyrant and elsewhere. She loves her sweet toy poodle rainbow and is a Leo that is very low key evil. She’s currently working on a book or two.