Faith Gómez Clark
from what we’ve been able. able to gather. invasions. began. invasions began about three. three months ago. during rainy season. rainy season. unidentified. unidentified being. invaded. invaded young. invaded young boy’s body. multiple occasions. multiple occasions eyewitnesses report. we received reports. unidentified being. invading. young boy’s body. young boy. did not. did not fight. back. invasion investigation. investigation ongoing. we regret. we regret to inform. you. your young boy’s body. invaded. unidentified being invaded. invaded your young boy’s body. three months. multiple occasions. investigation ongoing.
Invasion
A city on the border of earth and hell. The air, thick and moist after the rain. In Abuela’s backyard sunflowers bloom like gaping mouths. Two brown girls, four years young and too brown to be loved by god, play naked in mud puddles. Their laughter buzzes through the air, sweet as nectar. Their bodies glow. The old woman watches through the screen door, heart clicking like hummingbird wings. Sometimes, little brown girls are born into the language of the unsayable, each syllable a window into further darkness. Sometimes, desire tastes like love. What happens when the body breaks the boundary of blood?
Boundary
Faith Gómez Clark (she/they) earned their MFA in Poetry from Warren Wilson. She has received fellowships from Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and Vermont Studio Center. She is a Pushcart Prize nominee. Their work can be found or is forthcoming in Salt Hill Journal, CALYX Journal, Huizache Magazine, Shō Poetry Journal and elsewhere.
Artwork: “Wrong Side of History” by Daniel Lurie
Digital