Poetry: Something — Eye Spy for Queer Colored Boys by Alyx Jordan
Alyx Jordan captures something of the “ruthless” flesh here. They’ve buried our bodies in the dirt, the pine needles—asking to play a game of shovels and live-wire. “Something—Eye Spy” is not a poem to be missed.
Something — Eye Spy for Queer Colored Boys
askew, akin / to coming unstuck from the mirror, another
body you / don’t ever talk about / so nothing is named, no boys
conjured, no strangers kept / scratching the roofs of their coffins
down in the / earth, breath / reek with pine needles / dangerous
edens, reminders / of dirt / or else
flesh, itself / a ruthless thing, thin chances / fruits
green down / all the way to bone, grown
homesick / like diseased, not desired. / Something heavy
in the sweat / thick as weather / or an idle
jinx / wipes its feet on your larynx, racks / a jack-
knife / through your abdomen / rattles and knocks
loose, looks / for the shovel inside of your / lover’s /
mouth / digs a live-wire out of his spine / says open and / your / mouth
never closes / is never / close / enough to the shovel / and never
open enough to be filled. / Something warm, worn / like old
Phonographic wax / some doomed accordian / peeling
quatrains from iron / bound ballads, blood-colored quartz
red / rum
sugar ciphers. / Some-
thing / anew / call it critical syn / thesis / a subtle thief
unscrewing all the vines of your body, beating under
vault of storms / smooth as river rock / her verse
welcome / s / words
xiphoid serifs / filed / and rayed, blades / cast / x-caliber
yes and / something / a sorrow-song / for you
zero / sum / hero / you son of Zeus.
Alyx Jordan
Alyx Jordan (they/them) has been writing poetry since graduating with a BFA in Theater from Clark University. Their previous publishing credits include Half Mystic Journal, Cordella, Writers Resist, Memoryhouse, and wildness. They make a living, here and there, as a teacher or—more often than not— a server in some diner or other. Mostly, they write about their complicated relationship with Cuban heritage, or else the view from their porch, whenever they can slip in the time.
