Gigan for Contemporary Autumn
ISSUE 7
AERIK FRANCIS
RIVER PRUITT
KODA SOKOL
MATILDA BERNSTEIN SYCAMORE
KEI VOUGH
RACHEL FRANKLIN WOOD
JONAH WU
LUCY ZHANG
I used to be warm radiance now I am being disingenuous not about the warmth
the glowing the stretching but rather the tempo at which a kind of melody excites
exists not that it exited it never could it permeated indeed growth
but one wonders the form the structure the shape the texture of root or rhizome
as stalks splinter symptoms of wither & seasons slow at a bitter pace of Winter
it almost seems silly to question the coldness the packed to preserve the plastic
of what now is my touch on the skin or just the skin itself or just myself
nestled inside of a pile a compiler myself any compilation really
of horrible historical clashes made of people not really unlike myself
who all want to live long enough to experience another revolution of planets
I could stay disingenuous & continue speaking around it, but I am not warm
it almost seems silly to question why I have grown colder living how & where I have
about the splintering the greenery nearby how they survive unseasonal
grow taller lush if there is water but have learned of snow in Summer
anymore the sun glows gloomy beyond clouds of seasonal forest fire smoke
the smells contain a burning a tepid heat somehow colder & me colder so
Aerik Francis is a Queer Black & Latinx poet and teaching artist based in Denver, Colorado, USA. They are the author of BODYELECTRONIC their debut poetry chapbook now out with Trouble Department press. They have poetry published widely, links of which may be found at linktr.ee/Aerik or via their website phaentompoet.com.