State of Emergency

To honor movement in crescendos of text, combing through ashes for fragments of human bone, studying
maps drawn for the absurdity of navigation — what may be so edgy about this state of emergency is my
lack of apology for what I am bound to do. For instance, if I dream the wetness of your mouth an oyster
my tongue searches for the taste of ocean, if I crave the secret corners of your city on another continent, in
another time, in series of circular coils extending outward, then it is only because I continue to harbor the
swirls of galaxies in the musculature and viscera of my body. You will appear because I have mouthed
your name in half-wish, reluctant to bring myself to you. You will appear for me, because you always do,
with earthen skin outside the possibility of human causation.

Barbara Jane Reyes

State of Emergency