Two Poems
Emily Dickinson
a lovely test perched in her throat
like a song
bird
waiting to fly
from the hyoid bone —
for decades after
she embraced susan’s body
penciling love
letters & poems
on scrap papers
though suspicion
about their passionate affair
increased
so they washed their feet
for their journey ahead
covered themselves in sheets
until their bodies were hidden
and names erased:
later found
Untitled
i want to sew stones inside
pockets of skin. tired of floating
let me sink in the uninhabited parts
of soft fat plush & kept warm.
your belly noises & rhythms: heart
beat. exhale. heartbeat. inhale.
a rumble of stomach. the giggle
hollow from your lungs through
your chest to my ear to my brain —
i love you in many languages
yet the silent kind is best.
john compton (b. 1987) is gay poet who lives in kentucky. he lives in a tiny town, with his husband josh and their 3 dogs and 2 cats. his poetry is a personal journey. he reaches for things close and far, trying to give them life: growing up gay; having mental health issues; a journey into his childhood; the world that surrounds us. he writes to be alive, to learn and to grow. he loves imagery, metaphor, simile, abstract language, sounds, when one word can drift you into another direction. he loves playing with vocabulary, creating texture and emotions. he has published 2 books and 5 chapbooks published and forthcoming: [books]: trainride elsewhere (august 2016) from Pressed Wafer; stranger in the attic of clouds (tba) from dead man’s press inc; [chapbooks]: that moan like a saxophone (december 2016) from kindle; ampersand (march 2018) from Plan B Press; a child growing wild inside the mothering womb (june 2020) from ghost city press; i saw god cooking children / paint their bones (oct 2020) from blood pudding press; to wash all the pretty things off my skin (sept 2021) from ethel zine & micro-press. he has been published in numerous magazines and anthologies.
