Jessica Heron
Ars Poetica of the Chronically Bodied
I am with the dead who write about the living, I write from the thing in between, out of dead skin shed like the snake’s to expand and keep breathing, writhing. These letters line the edge of then and now, one thin paper, the other thick and slithering, leaving a translucent trail through parted air. There! That’s where my poem is – it’s in the going.
Chronic Decadence
based on the painting
“Decadent young woman. After the Dance”
by Ramon Casas (1899)
Hold my head holy fuck hold me up, I’ve been tap-dancing with hammers for hours.
Holy holy holy fuck, hold me, hold me up! But phantoms fling me above earth,
swing me dizzy cloud through cloud, soar me, soar me, soar! oh! me! torn
apart from tender flesh to weightless wonder
and awe
and I’m alive
and it’s astonishing –
astonishing!
how everything looks now from this cushion:
light is not a problem anymore
heat is not a problem
daily chores emails texts
not my fucking problem
there lies a body here oh yes
but not a problem
not one problem
Jessica Heron is a writer living on the Atlantic coast. She studies language, film, and poetry but is interested in everything. You can find out more about her including a full list of published works at jessicaheronpoetry.com and follow her as @signature_trash on social media.