Better Man

 

I made you a better man
With the blood of my firstborn
Painted the crooked smile
On your jack-o-lantern face

I made you a better man
With the bones of my curved spine
Combed your hair out of bayou eyes
Planted in your cherry milk face

I made you a better man
With the protein of my torn heart
Fed you all its contestable contents
Shoved into your howl moon face

I made you a better man
With my blind spilling eyes
Let you see into my creaking attic soul
So you could tear down the walls
In claustrophobic affection

I made you a better man
With the cutting of my wrists
Gave you something warm and wet
To fuck yourself with

***

the girl in the needle

 

whisper to me
over the sound of sugar
your drug dream daisy
pushing me to the edge of the world

do I smell like freedom, baby?
like the space between each blade of grass
between my teeth
between my same-poled knees
hiding blackouts and black and blues

do I sound like laughter
when you’re this high
do I taste like cloudline?

***

Jenna Vélez is an emerging queer Latinx poet from suburban Philadelphia. Her work has been featured or forthcoming in over a dozen literary magazines and journals. She is currently a contributing columnist at Pussy Magic Press and a reader for Awkward Mermaid. She tweets @northernbruja and can be found at jennavelez.weebly.com.