THREE POEMS

By Vi Khi Nao

YOU ARE NOT A LOAF OF BREAD THAT THE NIGHT MUST FORGIVE IN ORDER TO BE VIOLENT

1.            a spoon

2.            is a boat

3.            i stuff into

4.            my body

I MIS-MEASURE YOUR SILENCE FOR TELEPATHY & YOUR SADNESS FOR EMPATHY 

1.            I am no saint tasting your nerve impulses[1],

2.            The sound of your chair 

3.            Creaking leads me to a conjunction on the side of the road 

4.            Each word goes inside their sovereign domain

5.            Each word there is a path 

6.            Just as I reach my hand out to touch you

7.            You return to sand

8.            I am forced to be resilient 

9.            When all I want to do is give up hope 

LICK MY EYELID BEFORE YOU GO, SAY YOUR ORGANS ARE LONELY, RUB MY HIP STUDIOUSLY, COMB MY HAIR NOW TO AVOID PATROL, HAVE MY LIVER FOR LIFE

1.            April is a metropolitan of  rain    

2.            Fall and February   are lodged

3.            In the throat  of  Pisces      

4.            Take  me   to  your doorstep

5.            Then    suffocate   me.  The doorbell works really well

6.            Correct  me  if I find my lover succumbing to  one thousand

7.            Grams of salt     three fistful  of sugar  and one clover

8.            Wait for it Ardor  while I whisper Inaudible.

[1] CU Boulder: Eat something inedible and write a poem about it

These poems first appeared in 128 LIT’s 2022 print issue. They also appeared in My Yellow Heart (Girl Noise Press, 2022)