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Mykki Rios

ISSUE 6

AQDAS AFTAB
BRIAN DANG
CATHERINE KIM
FRAN O’FARRELL
MYKKI RIOS
FOREST SMOTRICH-BARR

  • Water Burial

    I became bleached reef

    No color, no growth,

    I camouflaged by necessity

    blending with the skeletons I was told

    I should aspire to

    begging for a place amongst

    the hooks and barbs and poisons


    I never doubted where I came from

    until the caustic words of school children

    Where does that confidence come from?

    Classification before one has even met the self

    walking a tightrope and paying no attention 

    to the tank of sharks below


    A beautiful buoyant thing

    that comes with being Mexican

    is that you’re taught not to treat death

    as an absolute ending


    I can cherish myself into an altar

    with underwater flowers rejuvenating

    I can wish my skin back over my bones

Mykki Rios is a genderfluid Mexican-American poet, performer and interdisciplinary artist. Raised in Chicago, and having lived many places across the globe, they strive to achieve clear, authentic communication and self-expression that strikes a chord with the human condition. Mykki has had work published in issues of The Minison Project, story twigs, and Welter.