THE LEX
We split a cigarette
in the crowded bar
thick air stagnant
with bourbon &
mistakes. I ask
if you want
to beat me in pool—
my coy question
signaling submission.
You lean a cue
against the table,
pause to rub the tip
of your stick
with blue chalk
as I watch. Show me
where you’ll sink
the eight, name
your hole, aim.
TUTORIAL
I press my tongue
to a lemon
shrug off
relentless winter
licking citrus
I expect
low-level shock
like placing
a 9-volt battery
to mouth’s
throbbing muscle
I learned
this edge young
clung to each
altered state
spun in circles
arms wide until
I watched
the Oriental rug
rearrange itself
My cousin
taught me
to snort
Pixie Stix
one winter
Huddled
in a playground
we took
sharp pulls
of purple sugar
through our nostrils
bright cold
chemicals burned
our sinuses
we doubled over
giggling
Soon girls I knew
were soaking
tampons in vodka
thin membranes
leaching alcohol
The first time
I got high
Tasha and I
smoked three blunts
careened down
familiar streets
blissfully misplaced
I drew flavored
smoke deep
the magic of
leaving myself
everything
I wanted
Rage Hezekiah is a Cave Canem, Ragdale, and MacDowell Fellow who earned her MFA from Emerson College. She is a recipient of the Saint Botolph Emerging Artist Award in Literature and was nominated for Best New Poets, 2017. Her recent chapbook, Unslakable, is a 2018 Vella Chapbook Award Winner published by Paper Nautilus Press. Stray Harbor (Finishing Line Press) is her debut full-length collection of poems. Rage’s poems have appeared in The Academy of American Poets Poem-a-Day, Rattle, Salamander, and several other journals and anthologies. You can find more of her work at ragehezekiah.com
