Order
After the news of a Black woman who died
on an emergency room floor while New
York hospital staff looked on. June 19,
2008.[1]
how the flesh wants
remove of itself
as is the
natural order of things
to fold oneself neatly
and fall to the floor
as is the natural order
of things
when she is black
to walk past to be
annoyed even
how can we shed her from
our lives?
to tuck oneself neatly
in the order of a
fleeting day:
flaking scalp, hair in a
brush
to be dead or dying
and fall to the floor
oh cool speckled linoleum
which catches her, the
last to catch
how the flesh wants
remove of itself
how the spirit sat
upright in wait
how the body folded
itself neatly
how we look on
how the mind resolves its
chores
Square and Compass, or
Joice Posthumously Reflects on the
Geometry of the Showman’s Recollection:
July
1835 – July 1847
“I was favorably struck with the
appearance of the old woman…She was
lying upon a high lounge in the middle
of the room; her
lower extremities were drawn up,
with her knees elevated some two feet
above the top of the lounge…”
-
from
The Life of P.T. Barnum, Written By
Himself
1.
square the right angle
between the legs
one that cannot move
one that will not move
bisect with
your horror
proof:
ten children born
five unborn
weight of tits
2.
circumscribe your desire
diameter distance between
boston and alabama
look
legs first
proof:
natural curiosities
bill of sale
sticky white, your hand
3.
find the radius to Anarcha
measure how her thighs
squeeze tight the show
tangent this history
between coincidence, consequence
proof:
showman is doctor
doctor is showman
memory comes alive
counting, haunting
Bettina
Judd is a poet, scholar, and artist who in her
work, infuses her interest in gender,