National Poetry Month Day 25: Aerik Francis

 

 

 

Citizen

Body be longing be       longing

Body be oblong be        l o n g i n g

Body be wrong be         l  o  n  g  i  n  g

Body be pronged be     l   o   n   g   i   n   g

Body be throng be        l     o     n     g     i     n     g

Body bell gonging         l      o      n      g      i      n      g

Body be song be          l       o       n       g       i       n       g

Body be gone be          l        o        n        g        i        n        g

Body beyond be           l         o         n         g         i         n         g

Body be bell be                                 l         o         n         g         i         n         g

Body be belly be                               l          o          n          g          i          n          g

Body be bellow be                             l           o           n           g           i           n           g

Body bellow bellow                            l            o            n            g            i            n            g

Body be low below be                        l             o             n             g             i             n             g

Body be low below                            l              o              n              g              i              n              g

 
Body   b e          l o w                      o b o d y                                             o      b o   d   y

 

Body         b e         l o w         l o w         b e l o w         l o w

 

Body         b   e         l   o   w         l   o   w         l   o   w          b   e   l   o   w         l   o   w         l o   w

 
 
 

***
Author photo by Sydónne Blake

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Aerik Francis is a Queer Black & Latinx poet & teaching artist based in Denver, Colorado, USA. Francis is the author of two poetry chapbooks: BODYELECTRONIC (Trouble Department 2022) as well as the forthcoming MISEDUCATION (NDR 2023), winner of the 2022 New Delta Review Chapbook Prize. Explore their poetry and other media further at phaentompoet.com

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The Rumpus publishes original fiction, poetry, literary humor writing, comics, essays, book reviews, and interviews with authors and artists of all kinds. Our mostly volunteer-run magazine strives to be a platform for risk-taking voices and writing that might not find a home elsewhere. We lift up new voices alongside those of more established writers our readers may already know and love. We want to bring new perspectives into the conversation that will make us all look deeper.

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