I am next to you
I put my thigh meat next to yours
I have a swan’s blood inside my mouth, so I just smile
The warmth from your thigh will seep into mine
The sturdiness I have
My predator’s leg
I will sit quietly
Like an animal
Enjoying the warm sunlight with blood in my mouth
I’m not a monster
If I seem like one
It’s because nobody ever said so
The swan’s blood is watered down with my saliva
Til it’s thin and and pink
My fingernails itch to prick through to your legs
But I’m not going to
I’m not going
To be a beast
I close my teeth
And my lips over my teeth
And the blood will stay inside and you are spared
My love and the world keeps on ringing with sunshine
Niina Pollari
© Niina Pollari
Ett stort tack till Niina Pollari, poet baserad i Brooklyn, som lät oss publicera ”Swan’s Blood”, hämtad ur den helt nyutkomna diktsamlingen Dead Horse (Birds, LLC). Och apropå hästar, missa inte Pollaris egendomliga, svängiga och fascinerande dikt ”Horse Feet”, med rader som ”Watch me go under / I am forever / I take it, everything / And anyone who rides me grows androgynous and louche / I got horse feet, don’t look at them”
Pollari har tidigare kommit ut med två så kallad chapbooks, Fabulous Essential (Birds of Lace 2009) och Book Four (Hyacinth Girl 2012). Hon har även översatt The Warmth of the Taxidermied Animal av Tytti Heikkinen (Action Books 2013).
Ola Wihlke
