Poetry By Noah David Roberts

        R. Miller CC




Impressions

I used to faint every time
we talked about broken bones in class

until a few years ago the world ended
and I painted my body with ink with blades

when I was young I would burn
infinitely in the night cigarettes

pressure against the skin leaves marks
that even secrets can tell

and I’ve tried to die twice but
neither time I was successful

I wonder often if that makes me stupid
that I don’t understand my own

mortality or how to re-take it
and there’s a wonder in being 

unconscious and thoughts are
overwhelming when you’ve been stabbed

in the arm by a thick needle’s eye recently
 my friend quietly incising my flesh 

over and over and I remember why
I went on psych meds now

Rx containers were the vessel
of my first death it’s only natural

I should paint my body with tattoos
of the things that should’ve killed me

​
​

Noah David Roberts (they/them) is a non-binary poet and artist attending Community College of Philadelphia. Roberts is the author of the poetry collections Us v. Them, Strips, Slime Thing [and other poems], and Final Girl Mythos. Roberts has poems published in Big Scream, Tribes Magazine, Horror Sleaze Trash, and more. 
​