Illustration by Stephen Olson.

Listen:

Slow time in the palm of Georgia

I use to show my face

Do you mean nothing?

We ate death slippery

The house was a swallowing coffin

Some get named Charleston

& sleep in Pittsburgh

I march through childhood doors

A hole in a giant leaf

I have trouble naming myself

In a language I can find

What is a stranger?

We are messages

Salt in the corners of eyes

A cup of rainbow tea

How do we fill ourselves?

Sell acts for the habit

I use to show nothing

But what troubles my mind

Terrell Jamal Terry
Terrell Jamal Terry’s poems have appeared or are forthcoming in The Literary Review, Green Mountains Review, Columbia Poetry Review, West Branch, Washington Square Review, The Journal, and elsewhere. His debut collection, Aroma Truce, is forthcoming from Black Lawrence Press in the summer of 2017.