His Side

Teagan Fowlkes

These suckers speak like ashtrays, wild stray lines

of gray. Cattails on the mount that made this

state, that weighed the space between you and your

nana, silver-lined chick. Saturation,

a mother tongue. You talk like your mama.

Auburn locks of your keep. In a specter

field, among the after-harvest debris,

you cut yourself on cotton and suckle

streams of your color. Mother’s nourishment.

Drip from a city line faucet far away.