the mosquito bites me & sings a bloodsong
by Jassmine Parks
how sweet the blood, a flash
flood of fragrant floral floats
beneath your flesh. flower
child who flaunts a flicker of fire,
you hail from a flock
of women fluent in flame.
flattened under breasts, dual pistols.
flailing fists for floozies.
flagrant flings while married.
fleeing feet from the south.
flimsy forgiveness of lovers.
flitting emotions & rouged rage.
how many of you bore children & later floored
into psychiatric wards? the mind florid
& pulling itself apart at the seams. fleeting
is the life of this mortal making. fluent
in sorrow. what brown liquor is stored in your flask
to make you forget what makes your anger flare?
flashback to the days of your ancestor’s wings.
flexing of feathers sprouting from scapula,
flying is in your blood, remember your levitation.
fleshed daughter
now joined by blood,
are we not kin in flight?
flood of fragrant floral floats
beneath your flesh. flower
child who flaunts a flicker of fire,
you hail from a flock
of women fluent in flame.
flattened under breasts, dual pistols.
flailing fists for floozies.
flagrant flings while married.
fleeing feet from the south.
flimsy forgiveness of lovers.
flitting emotions & rouged rage.
how many of you bore children & later floored
into psychiatric wards? the mind florid
& pulling itself apart at the seams. fleeting
is the life of this mortal making. fluent
in sorrow. what brown liquor is stored in your flask
to make you forget what makes your anger flare?
flashback to the days of your ancestor’s wings.
flexing of feathers sprouting from scapula,
flying is in your blood, remember your levitation.
fleshed daughter
now joined by blood,
are we not kin in flight?
Jassmine Parks (she/her) is a Detroit-born poet and multi-disciplinary artist. Through the transformative power of storytelling she explores multi-generational narratives of Black womanhood and motherhood and inquires what it is to heal a lineage impacted and interrupted by incarceration and foster care. She serves as an adjunct professor of Creative Writing with Lawrence Tech University and as a Program Coordinator at InsideOut Literary Arts. She has been supported by fellowships from Haymarket Books, The Watering Hole, Torch Literary Arts, Kresge Arts In Detroit, Pen America, Vermont Studio Center, and is a Rising Leader with the Michigan Arts & Cultural Council. Her work has been published by the Detroit MetroTimes, Obsidian Literature, Clearline Magazine and Room Object. Jassmine is currently working on her debut poetry collection.