
He Told Me He Used To Have The Heart of a "Little White Girl" Too Like I was Sposta' Be Ashamed or Gooner!
Joshua Merchant | Poetry
I suppose accountability
is only slippery when my name
is lodged between the only home
I am safe to claim. stroke your ego
slowly my friend. we can’t all
make money if you’re constantly
dehydrated, said the little girl
in my head. she died shortly after
while trying to be swallowed. please
cover your ears, I don’t want someone
more natural to get offended. violence is
a careful tongue. and a flock of white women
is called a splooge. and my birth was the blessing
of having my memory wiped clean. I was nothing
before you went down on me. grew two sizes larger
when you let me hold you. I am cured. I am yours
for the taking. I’m real now.
Joshua Merchant (THEY / THEM / THEIRS) is a native of East Oakland exploring what it means to be human. A lot of what they explore is in the realm of love and what it means while processing trauma, loss, and heartbreak. They’ve come to recognize with harsh lessons and divine grace that without showing up for ourselves and each other, everything else is null and void. You can find their work in Anvil Tongue, Spiritus Mundi Review, Rigorous Mag, and elsewhere. They’ve had the honor to receive the 2023 San Francisco Foundation / Nomadic Press Literary Award for poetry.