SEX, WITH SENSORY OVERLOAD

Painting of a white swan sitting solo with the head and neck tucked down on the right side of the image. — “Solo” by Lena Zycinsky

I will tell him after this sex had always felt like a favor
offered / / like my stomach’s inside was a nightshade / /
that need
be swallowed before the tubers sprout / / expire / / turn
green and poison / /
the pantry / / perishable / / but
still / / minds wander / / find
their horizontal footing in the full moon / / did you know wolfsbane
was the cure to keep ancient werewolves / / alive / / and human
once upon a time / / like vomit and prophetic hallucination
were cure and not cause / / did I tell you / / I get angry
I can’t be
doing anything without / / wondering what I should
look up later / / to make sense
of what I’m feeling / / have you looked up
how many people have actually died from
brown recluse venom / / or man-of-war tentacles / / do you have any idea
how long it’s been since this bedroom was the bottom
of an ocean / / I saw a mosasaur skeleton once / /
at the great inland seaway fossil site / / and I
saw / / myself giving birth
to saltwater / / the sonar songs ricocheting / / from my sharpened
belly / / is this good? / / is this what
you want? / / is this what it feels like? / / are you feeling
okay? / / you know / / I swallow a lot more salt come to think of it
than I let out / / than I cry away / / a creek
so shallow / / you
could reach in / / come out
with shells in orange clay / / sixty million
years arriving wet / / in your hand / /
a thumb / / traced down the fractals
finding not / / the blushing animal tongue / / but
in this sediment / / the one spot / / all
the spiral galaxies sprang from

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

CJ Scruton is a trans, non-binary poet from the Lower Mississippi River Valley. They currently live on the Great Lakes, where they teach and research ghost stories. They have been a finalist for the Pamet River Prize at YesYes Books and for Willow Springs Books’ Emma Howell Rising Poet Prize, and their work has appeared in The Journal, Shenandoah, New South, Juked, and other publications.

About the artist

Lena Zycinsky (She/her), born in Belarus, brought up as a Russian, DNA stretches over the Ukraine. Artist, creative director, poet. 3 books (in Russian), 3 solo shows. Currently based in Atlanta.