This article is part of Sunday Edition: “Juneteenth.”
––––––
Untitled {you woke up yesterday}
you woke up yesterday and did not expect to die
so of course the night seemed different, smiling
before sleeping you sighed, and then
and then, and then? Tomorrow you will
look in a glass and nearly trip
startled by your own beauty
outlined by the sun.
“sometimes”
sometimes
it is that
simple
: to survive
this blood-drenched crawling
wailing life is not possible
and neither is
blinking through scars
into a beaming sun without forgetting
start with simple: living
is not possible
without life
Editor’s Note: King’s “untitled” poem was published in Rock | Salt | Stone by Nightboat in 2014, and “sometimes” is included in a collection, All the Rage to be published by Nightboat in 2021.
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