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

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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.