laura: an ode

Photo: Bekir Dönmez

i have gathered this thing

around the fleshy lips of my heart.

a small fire lustring in my veins – burning slowly into a desire.

love is a proof that God exists in me too,

                                    the soft powder dust that we share

in our bones is another.

i want to lift my heart to the ceiling light -

                                    that’s how you create a sun

in your body with its razor-sharp flame.

& my half-boiled skin i will lay onto you in the name of love

                                    & say take and eat, this is my body.

the closest way to reach God is through you,

                                    so i amen my prayers with your name

& whisper hosanna – hosanna,

                                    every time a piece of you slides inside me.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jeremy T. Karn writes from somewhere in Liberia. His work had appeared and forthcoming in 20.35: Contemporary African Poets Volume III anthology, The Whale Road, Ice Floe Press, ARTmosterrific, Lolwe, Cypress Press, The Minute Magazine, Feral Poetry, Liminal Transit Review, The Remnants Archive, The Kissing Dynamite, Rigorous Magazine, Walled City Journal, and elsewhere.

His chapbook (Miryam Magdalit) has been selected by Kwame Dawes and Chris Abani (The African Poetry Book Fund), in collaboration with Akashic Books, for the 2021 New-Generation African Poets chapbook box set. He tweets @jeremy_karn96