By: Olga Gonzalez Latapi
when
thorns gather and smother and kill
e-
ven if i can-
not breathe in this world sometime it
is a curse to look up-
on the outside a-
cross glass and light from
artifice light from moon
i
look outside I look outside and re-
a-
lize my body
waves like the wind through weeping wil-
lows across flaws i vib-
rate at the mere touch
of gravity at
the mere touch of earth
what
artifice is this then to be smo-
thered
by the same light
as cries outside my window I
do not leave and at times
I may drape over
my eyes but do I
leave this place do I leave
this
light silver drapery is my bo-
dy
as is this earth
do I live then to look outside
or do I long do I
accept the movement
of the earth clutch at
my heart exposed where do
I
travel then where do I get to be
for-
ever lost
Olga Gonzalez Latapi (she/her/hers) is a queer poet with an MFA in Writing from California College of the Arts. Although her writing journey started in journalism, she is now pursuing her true passion: exploring the world of poetry with a mighty pen in hand. She got her BS in Journalism at Northwestern University. Her work has been published in Teen Voices Magazine, Sonder Midwest literary arts magazine, BARNHOUSE Literary Journal, Wild Roof Journal, Impossible Task, Genre: Urban Arts, Biscuitroot Drive, iaam.com, and The Nasiona Magazine. She is the translator of the upcoming Reflections of an Old Man (Pensamientos de un Viejo) by Colombian philosopher Fernando González and a spoken word album with Amaryllis Recordings. Originally from Mexico City.
"This piece is part of my new series which I am calling phonebook. The whole project is inspired by the sometimes futile and always emotional task of calling and calling and calling and not getting a response. The structure of each piece is created as a phone number, each digit leading line breaks as well as blank spaces and length of stanzas. The idea is for each piece to act as a perpetual phone call to a person (thus the titles consist of names). The result, in my mind, is a mystical phone book existing in the airwaves around us."
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