Two Micros by Mallory Imler Powell

"It's just hunger" & "He calls me green eyes"


It’s just hunger

and you won’t die
from wanting. Look
how much safety you live in,
how freely you walk,
long strides to stretch the stiff
and strained body, parts
of shadows moving light moving
you to daydream and desire, the luxury
of so little fear
that you have enough
to survive. Crave more than you need
or deserve. We must have
a little longing
to keep us alive.

He calls me green eyes

but I don’t know if I like
how he stared at my pussy
as I lied on my back and he fucked me
instead of looking at my face, as men
have reduced women
since ever. Why do men love so much
the sight of coming into a space
not theirs.
Perhaps they remember their passage
into this sorry world, against their will,
and so they seek revenge.



This poem is want —

“We spend the day arranging ourselves to avoid contact / but you linger on my mouth”


from Notes on my father

Popeye and The Three Stooges. My favorite
Stooge was Shemp: replaced, forgotten.