Day 6: A Ladyfest Collab for Pussy & Poetry

Last night I hosted the first poetry reading in a series of events for New Orleans' Ladyfest, which is in its 7th year. For the last two years, poets Jenna Mae and Laura Mattingly have organized the poetry portion of the four day event, which includes music, art, parades and spoken word created and performed by women or people who identify as women. They organize two poetry events during the Fest, and I was honored to host the first reading which included about a dozen poets and two musicians. As my constraint this month is Pussy & Poetry, I decided to write the poem for Day 6 at the event using the language that was being released into the ethers by all the LadyPoets.

Thanks to the poets who read last night: B.A. Crumm, Amanda Emily, Utahna Faith, Juanita Jackson, Shannon Holmes, Kesha Star Young, Jimi, Lee Grue, Carrie Chappell, Delia Tomino Nakayama, Katarina Boudreaux and musicians: Sheryl Diane and Gardenia Moon



At the close of the reading, I read the poem, which is below:


Day 6:

a canto of broken lips
fickle chooses margins/ you skeleton
fire tongues loose once distant but shafts
a tingling: sex is a stone, sex is a dewy shoe
each morning you wake settled/ orgasms
like night swallowing day: hold a beat
switched to a rocking back & forth silence
moves thick as war at the neck, at the border
at the brim: a terror song below a hush
sky wide/ wet under every color, wet under
any weather, the most perfect art you'll ever
get your hands into: this too, swept away
any shame: this could be a distraction
a narrow field of divination
this could be one way: a fucking
or a conduit for what you knew
most gleaming is a beauty/ any gaze
is a way of being seen, you don't
get to choose how
each leaving gets a space
you learn to mouth the words
it's slippery this life, it slips
from one hole to whole
other frequency

This is apparently a Vagina-Lady.