‘narrowed lust’ by Inam Kang

i say i’ll be
dressless, skinless, curated
and pickled. i say i’ll give it
all up for a chance to be warm.

This week, a poem recently published in The Margins by Inam Kang, on image and reflection, an acknowledgement of shortcomings and a hopeful, assured forward momentum. ‘narrowed lust’ is more a celebration of self and identity, physical and familial, and interpersonal. It examines the human tendency to perpetuate the peculiarities and prejudices that have been enacted on us. How to learn an appetite for celebration, of the self and of the alike. A nameless defiance; a steadfast, unstoppable affirmation of the self.

i meet to touch my
delicate identicals. come forth
shapeless, come forth
rounded in the colors, come
and come and come again.

AAWW