Three Poems
André O. Hoilette
"The Ice Shelf and the Magma" by Desiree Dufresne, 20" x 16", acrylic on canvas
|
the storm opened us
-for e.l.
[mobile version]
when it rained the storm opened us pomegranate a brittle sky
splintered roared as a serpent no thicker than our fingers drowned in the puddle-
filled yard it came suddenly streets skipping their color-making just dumped their
rainbows into the sewers to keep up some ran but i hummed a tune of dripping
ready to swallow lightning an ode to psychics pulling another future through the needle’s
eye spun a panting poem into breath to stillness of flesh the poet’s mouth is a
blossom
joined her on a walk trailed behind her hand palmed every peony’s head
fencepost vine does she dream the houses’ interiors
that she’d fill with feathers
ammonites and ferns the storm’s pain slick on the wavy glass?
-for e.l.
[mobile version]
when it rained the storm opened us pomegranate a brittle sky
splintered roared as a serpent no thicker than our fingers drowned in the puddle-
filled yard it came suddenly streets skipping their color-making just dumped their
rainbows into the sewers to keep up some ran but i hummed a tune of dripping
ready to swallow lightning an ode to psychics pulling another future through the needle’s
eye spun a panting poem into breath to stillness of flesh the poet’s mouth is a
blossom
joined her on a walk trailed behind her hand palmed every peony’s head
fencepost vine does she dream the houses’ interiors
that she’d fill with feathers
ammonites and ferns the storm’s pain slick on the wavy glass?
fear of the police
[mobile version]
a fear of police is said to be capiophobia but when read more closely
capio, the latin means (fear of) arrest being taken -- being surrendered unto power.
this means i am not truly a capiophobe
it is not their white faces that frighten or the hot breath so close so foul with
hatred and lop-sided righteousness. i fear the murder of a thing this body
slide guilt and cocoa butter on dark skin
yes, our skin prickles at being snatched in the night
or being sold away from family it swells hot (under)
america’s (welt) whip
let me petition you to change names foniasphobia is the fear of being murdered,
no, it is the fear of murderers and serial killers. let me petition to change the
name. to fear police is to fear being murdered
no, to fear the murderer, skilled in killing
no, to fear the serial killer.
to fear being stalked just for having been seen.
to fear the chase, to fear being someone else’s trophy,
no, to fear drinking from a stream, so quiet, the beating of
the moth’s wings quiver in the ear
then a bang, blind you blood on your shirt, hands because they feared
feared for their life, armed up,
armored up, backed up with 5 additional officers
we are a ghost race not the kind that hides behind curtains
or vanishes from the kitchen, before your eyes focus we wish to remain
unseen, from villainous eyes, but you see us too well this skin
even when we are worrying about bills in the car at a stop light or
crossing the street on the phone with a friend, sucking the fruit
candy on an evening walk in those moments we think of how this could
end think about why wonder if anyone sees us besides police,
fear being reincarnated to be hunted again.
[mobile version]
a fear of police is said to be capiophobia but when read more closely
capio, the latin means (fear of) arrest being taken -- being surrendered unto power.
this means i am not truly a capiophobe
it is not their white faces that frighten or the hot breath so close so foul with
hatred and lop-sided righteousness. i fear the murder of a thing this body
slide guilt and cocoa butter on dark skin
yes, our skin prickles at being snatched in the night
or being sold away from family it swells hot (under)
america’s (welt) whip
let me petition you to change names foniasphobia is the fear of being murdered,
no, it is the fear of murderers and serial killers. let me petition to change the
name. to fear police is to fear being murdered
no, to fear the murderer, skilled in killing
no, to fear the serial killer.
to fear being stalked just for having been seen.
to fear the chase, to fear being someone else’s trophy,
no, to fear drinking from a stream, so quiet, the beating of
the moth’s wings quiver in the ear
then a bang, blind you blood on your shirt, hands because they feared
feared for their life, armed up,
armored up, backed up with 5 additional officers
we are a ghost race not the kind that hides behind curtains
or vanishes from the kitchen, before your eyes focus we wish to remain
unseen, from villainous eyes, but you see us too well this skin
even when we are worrying about bills in the car at a stop light or
crossing the street on the phone with a friend, sucking the fruit
candy on an evening walk in those moments we think of how this could
end think about why wonder if anyone sees us besides police,
fear being reincarnated to be hunted again.
About the Author
André O. Hoilette is a Jamaican-born poet living in Denver, Colorado. He is a Cave Canem fellow and former editor of ambulant: A Journal of Poetry & Art and former Asst. Editor of Nexus Magazine. He currently pursues MFAs in Fiction and Poetry from Regis University. Previous publication in Stand Our Ground: Poems for Travon Martin, Bum Rush the Page: A Def Poetry Jam, and the Cave Canem 10-year reader, milk magazine, Cultural Weekly, South Broadway Ghost Society, and other journals.
About the Work
My aim is to undermine what is accepted and taught currently. It is my thought that the publishing world as well as the academic, knowingly or not, creates classist and supremacist divisions between writers and readers. I work to undermine that.
"one duppy deh 'bout" comes from a larger project about a tragic supernatural entity named Clothilda, who was once human. The larger collection elaborates on the mythology of flamewomen and other entities known in the Caribbean and W. Africa.
"the storm opened us" is from a series of COVID poems. It attempts to show the isolation and longing for humans interacting during quarantine.
"fear of the police" is also from a series of poems about the value (de-value) of Black lives. The series attempts to show the intersection of black lives with a society that does not value the lives of them but rather seeks to destroy them.
About the Artist
Desiree Dufresne is interested in exploring emotions, memories, and lived experiences through the endlessly kaleidoscopic lenses of artistic curiosity, critique, wonder, and spontaneity. The artist's unique sense of texture and composition brings the viewer into another world of perception wherein colors and shapes tell a story that is at once intensely personal to Desiree, and meant just as much to be creatively interpreted by every viewer.
The self-taught artist works most frequently in abstract expressionist paintings using acrylic, oil paint, and found items. She loves experimenting with different media and unusual objects, exploring the strengths and challenges of each one. Her style is confident, irreverent, and at times absurd, but every line, scribble, distorted shape, and unusual color is applied with studied intent.
About the Art
"The Ice Shelf and the Magma" (20" x 16", acrylic on canvas) is an exploration of the emotional textures of being consumed and overwhelmed by desperation while struggling to find hope. The two opposites — the cold ice and the seething magma — fight for sovereignty, each taking on elements of the other.
André O. Hoilette is a Jamaican-born poet living in Denver, Colorado. He is a Cave Canem fellow and former editor of ambulant: A Journal of Poetry & Art and former Asst. Editor of Nexus Magazine. He currently pursues MFAs in Fiction and Poetry from Regis University. Previous publication in Stand Our Ground: Poems for Travon Martin, Bum Rush the Page: A Def Poetry Jam, and the Cave Canem 10-year reader, milk magazine, Cultural Weekly, South Broadway Ghost Society, and other journals.
About the Work
My aim is to undermine what is accepted and taught currently. It is my thought that the publishing world as well as the academic, knowingly or not, creates classist and supremacist divisions between writers and readers. I work to undermine that.
"one duppy deh 'bout" comes from a larger project about a tragic supernatural entity named Clothilda, who was once human. The larger collection elaborates on the mythology of flamewomen and other entities known in the Caribbean and W. Africa.
"the storm opened us" is from a series of COVID poems. It attempts to show the isolation and longing for humans interacting during quarantine.
"fear of the police" is also from a series of poems about the value (de-value) of Black lives. The series attempts to show the intersection of black lives with a society that does not value the lives of them but rather seeks to destroy them.
About the Artist
Desiree Dufresne is interested in exploring emotions, memories, and lived experiences through the endlessly kaleidoscopic lenses of artistic curiosity, critique, wonder, and spontaneity. The artist's unique sense of texture and composition brings the viewer into another world of perception wherein colors and shapes tell a story that is at once intensely personal to Desiree, and meant just as much to be creatively interpreted by every viewer.
The self-taught artist works most frequently in abstract expressionist paintings using acrylic, oil paint, and found items. She loves experimenting with different media and unusual objects, exploring the strengths and challenges of each one. Her style is confident, irreverent, and at times absurd, but every line, scribble, distorted shape, and unusual color is applied with studied intent.
About the Art
"The Ice Shelf and the Magma" (20" x 16", acrylic on canvas) is an exploration of the emotional textures of being consumed and overwhelmed by desperation while struggling to find hope. The two opposites — the cold ice and the seething magma — fight for sovereignty, each taking on elements of the other.
![mobile version]](/uploads/2/2/4/3/2243832/hoilette_storm_opened_us.png){kind=link}
