THE PLANETARY BODIES
by Naima Yael Tokunow
Open and out I are having a moon // for a meal // This is not celestial this is feast // a mouth full of oil // Can you imagine // not rock // not even satellite // just fattened galaxy // gums that I are tonguing // clean
I are incredible fever // of hunger // Moon being not enough // Moon // says I is black // as I want to be // Sits in its own says // I is // white in one million indents // of pock // I are lying in my lunch // The moon did not // speak // even as I ate it // alive
The moon is done // and produced // So many photographs in partial shadow // Here is the something // the scientists // say // held in all that void // all that flat // black // I are still faint // with hunger // my body wanting // more than rock // can fill
What color are I // when crested // when gibbous // full of visible surface // Can you imagine // needing the sun to be seen // I are // what I eat // I am become // outside of this earth // I are visible // invisible // as I open // close open // my mouth // I are ample in this
Naima Yael Tokunow (neé Woods) is an educator, writer and editor, currently living in the countryside of southern New Mexico. Her work (and life) focus around interrogating black femme identity & privilege, social justice, and black futurity. She is the auhtor of the chapbook, MAKE WITNESS, published in 2016 by Zoo Cake Press. She is a three-time Pushcart Prize nominee, a TENT Residency Fellow, & has attended The Home School workshop. She proudly edits the Black Voice Series for Puerto del Sol. New work is published or forthcoming from Glittermob, jubilat, Apogee, Anthropoid, Diagram, Juked and elsewhere. She is blessed to be black and alive.