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- POETRY -

FROM "ITS OWN VERB"

Dominique Salas

ISSUE TEN | SPRING 2018

my father: fright steady : don’t say ever say dick : your new name : gravel kiss : bitch : eyes taking in truth in the distance: pulpit tonic sopped: & yes : but: good light: timing of his wrist-flicks: in-a-pinch home: maracas reutilized: white rice : thick opal film canisters : the sharp clicks volve : slowing drags: rice : sharp at attention  volven:: toppling away : from: his: the swing: of : chipped : wood: rack : chest :: CPS-helpful-mija? :: homemade math to it : his orchestra: too: too: too :: physics tactile with fingers across cool belts volven : not ever heady : your old name : fluctuating lifestyles : school : wide or ridged fast slow fat anger in belts : control of physics negligible :: sob-brother rushes : a past me: predisposed : NOW : personage room : hope you don’t mind, mijo : no animated : not feeling : hugging volve: peripheral inculcation : a body: a knowing: : a leaving : a tough cookie: pride in chin :: ¿ right, mija? rough : house quietly : my room’s way : to the : if  circle: swings to : flattering : simple prophesies in: scripted  graph of memories too to: dense :: you’re new : name volve : volven: volves certainties circle : sister-sure of a lean figure 8 : it ate at our tree: your new name :: never enough: loop justifications interminable: hot-circuit-board-mija, patron saint of begging que todo vuelve bueno.

Dominique Salas was born and raised in El Paso, Texas, and is a PhD student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Communication Arts. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Apogee, The Volta, Bone Bouquet, and Feral Feminisms.

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