The psych on duty in triage
Asks me if I want to die, and I say
Not at the moment, no, but stay Tuned.
I can charm my way out
Of anything—including his seven-day
Suggested stay, those ugly
Gray mornings buzzing in infrasound
I can save my own life just as easily
As I can corrupt compounds of
Ripe silence with just a mouth—
Drown it out of its own sound. This
is what makes me dangerously
Compatible with death
Me and my ability to finesse
Choice out of desire, the talented Tenth
of disassociation, the power
Of being just a body within a body
Of jewels.
____________________________
“Lost Poem 4: RX” appears in Build Yourself a Boat, which has been longlisted for the 2019 National Book Award for poetry and is available from Haymarket Books.
Camonghne Felix
Camonghne Felix, poet and essayist, is the author of Build Yourself a Boat, which was longlisted for the National Book Award in Poetry, shortlisted for the PEN/Open Book Award, and shortlisted for the Lambda Literary Awards. Her poetry has appeared in or is forthcoming from Academy of American Poets, Freeman’s, Harvard Review, Lit Hub, The New Yorker, PEN America, Poetry Magazine, and elsewhere. Her essays have been featured in Vanity Fair, New York, Teen Vogue, and other places. She is a contributing writer at The Cut.
