"No One Speaks of How Tendrils Feed on the Fruits" by Xandria Phillips

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend June 26, 2019   No One Speaks of How Tendrils Feed on the Fruits   Xandria Phillips

no one speaks of how tendrils feed on the fruits                   of my demise     these dead hands                  for instance     that alight phlox wild strawberry                 and pine             this is my body out of context       rotting in the wrong           hemisphere             I died                     so all my enemies would tremble at my murmur                  how it populates           their homes                                 so I could say to the nearest fellow dead person        I know more than         all my living  foes                  I've derived sun-fed  design                       for once            from                                        closing my oak eyes                           now they'll never snare the civilian                                                                          pullulating my throat            Copyright © 2019 Xandria Phillips. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on June 26, 2019, by the Academy of American Poets. About This Poem   "There is a war being waged on my generation, and a part of it demands the draining and depletion of our natural world with no concern for sustainability, or generations to come. In considering America to be a unity of haunted states, I often speculate joining the ranks. Death in America feels as proximal as missing a utility bill. When I face my fear of decay in body and spirit, I find that the earth lavishes me with flora. The poem was born in me en route to a doctor's visit, for which I had no insurance." —Xandria Phillips   Xandria Phillips is the author of Hull (Nightboat Books, 2019). They are the 2019/2020 First Wave Poetry Fellow at the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing and live in Chicago, Illinois. Photo Credit: Nicholas Nichols Poetry by Phillips   Hull (Nightboat Books, 2019) "Doppler Effect" by Arthur Sze "The Brilliant Fragments" by Hadara Bar-Nadav "Letter to Someone Living Fifty Years from Now" by Matthew Olzmann June Guest Editor: Samiya Bashir   Thanks to Samiya Bashir, author of Field Theories (Nightboat Books, 2017), who curated Poem-a-Day for this month's weekdays. Read a Q&A with Bashir about her curatorial approach this month and find out more about our guest editors for the year. Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.   You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here.   © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038

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