Poetry by River Morel

     Danny Navarro CC




Horrifying Hills, July

Worm-filled raspberry
Hard-earned fingernail dirt 
Salt on the floor
Empty orgasm 
Cancer-lump in my throat 

Bass that doesn’t quite hit 
Nervousness as the sun sets
Marker tips get shredded
Cancer-lump in my throat
Butterfly on a bender
       (falling and falling down)

Hair snaps when you brush it 
Snap peas have mold 
I try for creation 
I live in the cold 

All the while, someone grabs at me
I eat henna, rear my soul
I peel that pus
I peel that lip 
I peel that spool; spool of moth ball and of chlorine 
Spool of mouse trap, gasoline

On the far end, 
Something smells bad
The boyfriend has a fear of war 
And the child’s play is limp
Limp like cancer-lump, in my throat

The girl won’t talk --
The boundaries 
and the burning 
are just cakes 
we can cut up.

Hush

A blackbird flies an orange sky. 
And every note 
is tin foil and silica.

Cancer-lump in my throat. 
I thought in July,
We’d take the boat.





I arrived at the ER on a Wednesday

Two days later, and argon whelms 
in bulbed infamy of me. 
I think of smashing my glasses. 
The lowly Argon sells his sheep 
to shepherd Hermes. 

We are recalculating 
all of these things. 

Bringing clementines, my father struggled to understand, 
and was so patient 
waiting over his square plate and listening to my words--

When I was a child, 
he must not have been able 
to distinguish simple ire 
from fury pain so great it melded my hands 
like mouths of barking dogs,
like moths branded in the porchlight,
like things shucked off into darkness. 

Now is a new day, 
and the slivers break with juice. 
Now again a new day, 
and I am reaching 
for my healing. 

​


River Morel (they/he) is a poet, psychologist, photographer, dancer, dreamer, lover, friend, trans activist, and spiritual participant. He currently attends SUNY Purchase College as a student of psychology and photography, with plans to pursue an MFA in poetry after graduation. Though raised in Brooklyn, NY, River can often be found traipsing in nature at any chance they have. Their poetry has been previously published in Tofu Ink Arts Press.