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Two poems by Jason B. Crawford

Jason B. Crawford

photo credit: Meriç Dağlı
photo: Meriç Dağlı

Beasts

Everything that lives and moves
about will be food for you
Just as I gave you the green plants, I
now give you everything

~
Genesis 9 Verse 3

What was here once
a body made entirely of straw
mouth, eyes, nails
painted in red
A doll given life
until ripped by the dog
Guts of hay and blood
decorating everywhere

              I thought this cruel
until I found it sport
Make a boy from clay
make it dance in front of me
then tear it apart at the lungs
Finding feast became ritual
A new habit for me to swallow

Boystown

I go  to  boystown  lay naked  in the  middle of  the street  and  wait for a car to hit me  and  isn’t  that  just  my life?  Waiting  for  things  to come  ruin  me the  boy  laid stretched  out  on  the bed  or road  or  the  bathroom stall,  ready  to be  destroyed  from the inside out.  I  will  marvel at this wreckage.  The body pried from  the mouth of the car,  split  in two clean  halves  down the middle.  Open bloodied  and  grinning. And  it  doesn’t  have to be  the gay district  of Chicago,  it could be New York  or  DC  or Los Angeles or my home  I  just  happened  to be  here when my body decided it needed to be turned to dust  and it’s  funny,  the   miracles  we   create  when  we   don’t  want  them, middle of the day and busy street but no cars came to level me, so instead  I found  a boy  to do  the shoveling,  I wonder  if  he knows what he’s buried

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Jason B. Crawford

Jason B. Crawford (He/They) is a black, nonbinary, bi-poly-queer writer born in Washington DC, raised in Lansing, MI. In addition to being published in online literary magazines, such as High Shelf Press, Wellington Street Review, Poached Hare, The Amistad, Royal Rose, and Kissing Dynamite, he is the Chief Editor for The Knight’s Library. Jason is a cofounder of the Poetry Collective MMPR, a group of poets who came together for laughs, bad memes, and nerd culture. He is also the recurring host of the poetry section for Ann Arbor Pride. Crawford has his Bachelors of Science in Creative Writing from Eastern Michigan University. His debut chapbook collection Summertime Fine is due in 2020 through Variant Lit.

Author: Jason B. Crawford Tags: Pride 2020 Category: The 2020 PRIDE ISSUE, Guest-Edited by Danielle Rose June 25, 2020

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Empty Mirror

Established in 2000 and edited by Denise Enck, Empty Mirror is an online literary magazine that publishes new work each Friday.

Each week EM features several poems each by one or two poets; reviews; critical essays; visual art; and personal essays.

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