Read the first poem from Jeanetta Rich's BLACK VENUS FLY TRAP
Deluge is very proud to have published, last year, a collection of poems by Jeanetta Rich: BLACK VENUS FLY TRAP. For the readers among you who have not yet risked falling prey to this writing's mordant ferocity and limpid slippery allure, here is LOVE POEM, which appears as the opening piece in Rich's book.
LOVE POEM
the finders fee to recruit a black woman for porn is 100.00
dollars
for a white woman 225.00
you say we can make big bucks
asian and latina women are grouped into the $225
denomination as well
I'm sorry
that the tones of my Skin are far too warm for you to make
any substantial profit from
faces are obsolete and ass is all the rage in Hollywood
you sneered
under breath
then apologized
for the bad joke
I can't help but to give into your
Auburn abyss of man.
I fell for you
despite your bipolar disorder
and sexual deviant behavior
But the cock ring was a bit much for me
I'm sorry
my stop meant
no
not harder
you're unrelenting
and stripped down to nothing
the wide window
open
with a lovely view of an
alleyway
if dumpsters could talk
they'd laugh
uncomfortably
at the thumping
my chin
hammering
against the peephole
I'm sorry
this wasn't supposed to be a rape poem
it was supposed to be a love poem
I never get to write those
i know it's My fault
just like the last time
just like every time
and
I'm sorry
what I wanted to say:
In The Galaxy before this,
I am certain of our existence.
You were a supreme ruler.
The fire that spout from the middle of your forehead
welded me from scrap brass
You asked God to give me life
and he did.
We lived in the forest
and on our wedding night
a [rival tribesman]
stole me away
Before you killed him,
he stabbed you in the abdomen.
Then you found me
My garments soiled and split in two.
for centuries this same body
has been a constant spoil of war
and so you slit my throat....
Tell me am I worthless?
here we are now
should've known better.
should've recognized you as soon as you took off your shirt
the scar now a perfectly symmetrical keloid
my shoulder blades break across the plane of your chest
I can't breathe but I manage to call on Jesus and bite my
tongue
as if I wasn't supposed to utter his name
I hear God laughing at me
"I told you to stay away from that crazy ass nigga."