Clayre Benzadón
Poem as Body
body as a con/cept
black hole con/suming
the last time you saw your pre/dator
he was in the MIA air/port
it does not he does not be/long
to me when I think gen- der
when I think stomach I feel ache,
bulge not me. South Beach
is where it happened. The beach
is where the bikini flails
I flailed when he plunged into me
without my consent I didn’t say
no I didn’t say yes I just existed
and exited my body dis/associated
the meaning of con/sent which mean one has
the right, power, will to oppose
I opposed my own power, instead
I wrote a poem that includes the
word body too many times
my form turned into a trunk
a material frame this is all
about framing things the right way
opposing the material so that body
becomes a metaphor in the end
body as a con/cept
black hole con/suming
the last time you saw your pre/dator
he was in the MIA air/port
it does not he does not be/long
to me when I think gen- der
when I think stomach I feel ache,
bulge not me. South Beach
is where it happened. The beach
is where the bikini flails
I flailed when he plunged into me
without my consent I didn’t say
no I didn’t say yes I just existed
and exited my body dis/associated
the meaning of con/sent which mean one has
the right, power, will to oppose
I opposed my own power, instead
I wrote a poem that includes the
word body too many times
my form turned into a trunk
a material frame this is all
about framing things the right way
opposing the material so that body
becomes a metaphor in the end
--
Clayre Benzadón (she / they) is a queer (bi /pan) Sephardic (Mizrahi)-Askhenazic poet, educator (adjunct professor) and activist. Her chapbook, "Liminal Zenith", was published by SurVision Books in 2019. She has been published in places including SWWIM, Olney Magazine, and Blue Stem Magazine.
Clayre Benzadón (she / they) is a queer (bi /pan) Sephardic (Mizrahi)-Askhenazic poet, educator (adjunct professor) and activist. Her chapbook, "Liminal Zenith", was published by SurVision Books in 2019. She has been published in places including SWWIM, Olney Magazine, and Blue Stem Magazine.