OXIDANT | ENGINE : Issue 4
Jory Mickelson
Undulation
If all is longing or
longed for then
the tongue—
slab of flesh,
muscle at the portico
(ever after
the shaping of
speech, some
invisible signal, at
apex
near the roof,
or unlatched at the back
of the throat, where
the glottal, a swallowed
dove extends
into the world,
into
the amplified choir,
the city) radiant
waves of air, all speech
and vibrato, all
radio, unseen oration—
is unrequited
conversation. Empty tone,
solid bell, the tongue
rung dully
after
the phone’s murmurs
are cradled, handfuls of earth
falling further into earth.
Jory Mickelson is a queer writer whose work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Rumpus.net, Southwest American Literature, Vinyl Poetry, The Florida Review, Superstition Review, The Collagist, The Los Angeles Review, and other journals in the United States, Australia, and the UK. He is the recipient of an Academy of American Poet’s Prize and is Lambda Literary Fellow in Poetry. His most recent chapbook Slow Depth was published by Argus House Press. You can follow him at www.jorymickelson.com.