MULTIPOINT PERSPECTIVE
AFTER DIONNE BRAND
AFTER DIONNE BRAND
our meetings keep getting livestreamed
by streetlight, i love orgo
a language building, skeletal
explaining the difference b/w adderall & meth
N to H or N to C to triple H, methylamine, mine
we discovered another common language, of variable consequence
i am surprised i am not alone in this knowing
in those moments b/w spaces, tunnel freeway reverberate, sine wave transverse
accelerate jaw tilt, open airway wide, splintered vertebra, molten pavement
i wanted to be part of something bigger. collective differentiation,
endless branching, gridded loss, masked public overview
spill over sidewalk crepitus, freeway bridge sinkhole, noble gas exhale
lying in wait
i search for a syntax, a structure to fold
mechanized chaos into order
in the mountains for a week
i give myself a partial break from the news cycle
listen to the poets & the birds’ staccato
airforce aerial practice echoes
the thud of rain on gently glittering sand @ the gay beach
we approach it for a moment, ocean licking toes
the dread of the unknown
no one talks about how grey the lifeless body is
the tight packing of our internal insulation
protect signals from node to node
when our fingers slide apart
sensations have not yet become words & dissipate
i am shocked by the density of self
congealed in surface maximizing folds
weigh down the palms of my hands
with all memory lust candor one contains
in the evening of us
mutual light keeps our lungs filled
time slows the moment before impact
each lysozyme shipped out to infiltrate protein walls
we do not adapt to the livestream, & it does not stop
how hard we push our VO₂ MAX to the limit of what our heart/s can take
in the after, we emphasize dissection
the careful splaying of skin & muscle & vessel & nerve
a slice towards knowing the errors of transpiration
inroads to the sources of the body’s history
the vessel highway severed branch by branch
connection points lost to the sharp metal edge
shrapnel sculpts skin in the pattern of empire
assigning trash of the pieces that don’t fit
empiric forces emphasize desiccation
the passage of time marked by the repetition of holidays
alongside bomb tallies & mass graves undercounted & obscured
Biographical Statement
Andrea Abi-Karam is a trans, SWANA, punk poet-performer cyborg. They are the author of EXTRATRANSMISSION (Kelsey Street Press, 2019), Villainy (Nightboat Books, Sept 2021), and with Kay Gabriel, they co-edited We Want It All: An Anthology of Radical Trans Poetics (Nightboat Books, 2020). They are currently writing a poet's novel and a murder mystery.