Who Lived Happily Before This War?

by Jayy Dodd

 

And when they propagated kinder people’s tweets, we

retweeted
but not enough, we quote-tweeted them but not

enough. tag me
in my #bed, around my bed Amerikkka

was typical: guilty house by guilty house by guilty house.

I took a joint outside and sang to the moon.

In the third month
of my hormones, in the land of terror

in the street of terror in the suburb of terror in the penthouse of terror,
our blood country of terror, we can’t forgive

who lived happily before this war.

 

 


The subject known as Jayy Dodd is a blxk trans womxn from Los Angeles, California, now based in Portland, Oregon. She is an artist, writer, and curator. Her work has been featured in LitHub, Poetry Foundation, Oprah Magazine, Ms. Magazine, and The New York Public Library, among others. She is the Executive Director for Dovesong Labs (a development of Winter Tangerine), editor of A Portrait in Blues (Platypus Press 2017), author of Mannish Tongues (Platypus Press 2017) & The Black Condition ft. Narcissus (Nightboat Books 2019). She has been a Pushcart nominee, co-editor of Bettering American Poetry. She is a Lambda Literary Fellow & a PICA Precipice Grant Recipient. She is also known as Lady Tournament of The House of Olivier. Find her talking trash online or taking a selfie.

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