Jericho Brown worked as a speechwriter for the Mayor of New Orleans before earning a Ph.D. in Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Houston. His first collection of poetry, Please (New Issues Poetry & Prose, 2008), won the American Book Award. His second collection, The New Testament (Copper Canyon Press, 2014), received the Annisfield-Wolf Book Award […]
The woman with the microphone sings to hurt you, To see you shake your head. The mic may as well Be a leather belt. You drive to the center of town To be whipped by a woman’s voice. You can’t tell The difference between a leather belt and a lover’s Tongue. A lover’s tongue might […]
Not the palm, not the pear tree Switch, not the broomstick, Nor the closest extension Cord, not his braided belt, but God, Bless the back of my daddy’s hand Which, holding nothing tightly Against me and not wrapped In leather, eliminated the air Between itself and my cheek. Make full this dimpled cheek Unworthy of […]
You are not as tired of the poem As I am of the memory. A returning toothache On either side of the mouth. An ingrown hair beneath the chin. Simple itch. Bruising scratch And again I am bundled In cousin Kenny’s clothes From last school year My hand held by my mother’s. We walk as […]
as performed by Janis Joplin God’s got his eye on me, but I ain’t a sparrow. I’m more like a lawn mower . . .no, a chainsaw, Anything that might mangle each manicured lawn In Port Arthur, a place I wouldn’t return to If the mayor offered me every ounce of oil My daddy cans […]
I wish you tamed. I wish what you fear— A night alone in the forest. A father who leaves you there. I wish you Were ten years old again. And in love With Marvin Gaye. I wish you saw his daddy Shoot him. I wish you asthma. An attack In the field. A lump in […]
But I could be covetous. I could be a thief. I could want and work for. I could wire and Deceive. I thought to fool the moon into A doubt. I did some doubting. Lord, Forgive me. How will I speak of Joe Adams And his wife? In New Orleans that winter, I waited for […]
From bed to dresser drawer And all while rolling latex down He’d whistle, and I felt Daily at first, a chore, a long walk Without trees. If anyone, I should have known— I who hate for people to comment That I must be happy Just because they hear me hum. I want to ask If […]