Black Annie Hall, and: Carrion
Rent from DeepDyve- Black Annie Hall, and: Carrion
Black Annie Hall
in a black wool hatand black suspendersin line to see The Sorrowand the Pity again
with khaki slacksand an afternoon freeblack Annie has troublehailing a cabafter seeing her analyst
on her roof,black Anniedrinking white wineafter tennis& dewy
Annie, living alonecalls for help to killa black widow spiderin her bathroom
black Annie is boredso she takes adult courses& can’t decidebetween philosophyor poetry [End Page 133]
lucky today, black Anniedriving 80 on the WestSide Highway with the topback, hair unmoved
black Annie’s whiteboyfriend asks hernot to smokethat marijuana cigarettein bed & out-of-body
Carrion
Today, Havana is uglydiesel fuel disappearingthe horizon, chicken bonesclogging gutter drains,dogs fucking
I only meet men who wantthings. Spanish touristslooking for black sex, othersfor asylum I am darkenough that none of them talkabout my pussyto my face, thinkingI’ll understand them.It’s something, alwaysabout my lips, half-parted and heaving air
A pickup drives pastwith a white pig flayed [End Page 134] open and hangingin the truck bedlike a mast
Above me an oldwoman’s balcony crumblesonto grass. I am beginningto smell my own breath
On the street, a fritura cartrolls by just missingthe body of a wounded birdwho’s to say what’s graceand what’s cruelty [End Page 135]
Rio Cortez is a Cave Canem/Canto Mundo Fellow from Salt Lake City, Utah. She is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and the mfa program at New York University.
