Raisin

A poem written by Belinda Banh.

Bed is a wet sponge.

I was leaking tomato sauce

while my dog nipped cotton

out of my chest

My fingers felt fuzzy

when I heard the trees rustling

It tasted like the smell of sulfur

Ben ran away a week ago to

Naperville,

Vernon Hills,

or Arlington Heights

I’m so dry I think I will crumble

if I sneeze

I jump into a pool,

more chlorine than water

Make america great again.

Bet.

I missed my birthday,

so my candles blew out

I would kill myself

to spend a night with him.

Darling mime of fear

my phone rang- buzzed.

And I swallowed a battery

I jumped three flights down the stairs and landed on both feet

Linda wouldn’t have liked any of it, but would smile anyway

In two days the Nazis will come back from hell

polished brick

The water up my nose finally gave out and plunged into the dirt.

I gasped for air as a lily sprouted from the ground

YA GÜEY

my eyes folded themselves

and rolled onto their bellies

I sunk into the (pile of) mud,

turned into a prune.