no aesthetic outside my freedom
As promised: "the title of the second poem comes from a line by Mahmoud Darwish as translated by Fady Joudah. if accepted, however you'd like to acknowledge this would be rad!"
i know that you are beautiful
if you love me with a bite.
if you hold my hand and make
a picket line. ""what’s exciting
isn’t always beautiful,"" the john waters
movie warns me. and yet,
the imagination needs just a little nudge
to believe garbage beautiful, or
to believe in something more important
than the body. i know there is
a world beyond this one, so i’m not
scared to die making this one
freer. making myself believe
that beautiful means teeth,
and a little bit of pain.
no,
i choose to see nothing more beautiful
than the new world that catches
the light, shimmering in the blood
leaping from a billionaire’s
throat. every drowned master a prelude
to a drowned structure.
i’m making myself eros. i’m steeling
myself for the power shift.
i’m stealing my time back from every
one. i’m sharpening my words.
yalla,
i’m sharpening what blades i can afford
on a teacher’s salary.
bite hard. wherever we go,
i hope i meet you there.
if you love me with a bite.
if you hold my hand and make
a picket line. ""what’s exciting
isn’t always beautiful,"" the john waters
movie warns me. and yet,
the imagination needs just a little nudge
to believe garbage beautiful, or
to believe in something more important
than the body. i know there is
a world beyond this one, so i’m not
scared to die making this one
freer. making myself believe
that beautiful means teeth,
and a little bit of pain.
no,
i choose to see nothing more beautiful
than the new world that catches
the light, shimmering in the blood
leaping from a billionaire’s
throat. every drowned master a prelude
to a drowned structure.
i’m making myself eros. i’m steeling
myself for the power shift.
i’m stealing my time back from every
one. i’m sharpening my words.
yalla,
i’m sharpening what blades i can afford
on a teacher’s salary.
bite hard. wherever we go,
i hope i meet you there.
Fargo Tbakhi is a queer palestinian american writer and performer in phoenix, arizona. his work is published or forthcoming in Protean Mag, the Shallow Ends, Mizna, Peach Mag, and others. if you would like to fund his work, please find him online @YouKnowFargo.