In Suburbia
by Diannely Antigua
Steak is abundant.
He feeds the leftover mignon to the dog.
You try to negotiate the past.
When your grandmother dies,
you let him touch you, no
invitation, no fight. A part
of him wants sunshine,
another part wants snow.
You learn to perform a window.
This is how memory happens—
Here is another letter from the courthouse:
Do you need protection
or a father? When you stick your fingers
in the darkest hole, you feel almost feminine.
You tell the unborn to stay put.
Steak is abundant.
He feeds the leftover mignon to the dog.
You try to negotiate the past.
When your grandmother dies,
you let him touch you, no
invitation, no fight. A part
of him wants sunshine,
another part wants snow.
You learn to perform a window.
This is how memory happens—
Here is another letter from the courthouse:
Do you need protection
or a father? When you stick your fingers
in the darkest hole, you feel almost feminine.
You tell the unborn to stay put.
Diannely Antigua is a Dominican American poet and educator, born and raised in Massachusetts. She received her B.A. in English from the University of Massachusetts Lowell where she won the Jack Kerouac Creative Writing Scholarship, and received her MFA in poetry from NYU where she was awarded a Global Research Initiative Fellowship to Florence, Italy. She is the recipient of fellowships from CantoMundo and Community of Writers, and a nominee for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. Her book Ugly Music, forthcoming from YesYes Books, was chosen for the 2017 Pamet River Prize. Her poems can be found in Day One, Vinyl, The Adroit Journal, Cosmonauts Avenue, Tinderbox Poetry Journal, and elsewhere. Her heart is in Brooklyn.
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Diary Entry #16: About Using My Body by Diannely Antigua
June 2018
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Diary Entry #16: About Using My Body by Diannely Antigua
June 2018