Fish in the Air Girl
Sick girl, slick girl, skin swish & hiss girl
flash & orangebright & swallowing
saltwater girl. Girlchild into skybound
grave, splitting our fins
into legs. Mamí, every time you say
I’m sorry it sounds like I love you.
We should talk about that man, Mamí.
How a thing is built determines
its toppling. Any day is a fine time
to heal. A blueless day, even. An oceanless.
A Thursday, Mamí. If you let us.
In the kingdom of our bruises
make a wish for the daughter. Take her
into ourselves & absorb
as many times as necessary.
When Mamí birthed a saltwoman she believed
her sorrows were over for a saltwoman
turns tears to rivers & slakes
us all. But the man did come.
And the river did dry. The salts did flatten.
The saltlicks did parch. The earth did crack.
I keep trying. I keep failing. Today I rolled down
my window & flipped off the white pendejo
who honked & honked as I waited my turn.
& when he pulled beside me & told me I should
shut up & learn to drive, I screamed Fuck you.
Mamí you would’ve washed my mouth
with soap.
& still the ragebubbles rise.
Still the shamebubbles rise.
Jenn Givhan, a Mexican-American writer and activist from the Southwestern desert, is the author of four full-length poetry collections, most recently Rosa’s Einstein (Camino Del Sol Poetry Series), two chapbooks, and the novels Trinity Sight and Jubilee (Blackstone Publishing). Her work has appeared in The Best of the Net, Best New Poets, Poetry Daily, Verse Daily, POETRY Magazine, The Rumpus, The New Republic, AGNI, TriQuarterly, The Nation, Crazyhorse, Witness, Southern Humanities Review,andKenyon Review. She has received, among other honors, a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, a PEN/Rosenthal Emerging Voices fellowship, and New Ohio Review’s Poetry Prize, chosen by Tyehimba Jess. Givhan holds a Master’s degree in English from California State University Fullerton and an MFA from Warren Wilson College, and she can be found discussing feminist motherhood at jennifergivhan.com as well as Facebook & Twitter @JennGivhan.