Offshore in a Rotunda
Sylvia Jones
full of vocal fry interpreters
the chick getting her hair
done across from me is
talking about picking up
other people’s energies
at the grocery store
my sister used to cry when my dad got haircuts
it’s like my uterus’s desire to kill me
is stronger than the sun
a spiritual Brillo pad rubbing
against an open wound froth rolling
static late-night stoner fodder
your fucking organs don’t understand economics
or financial stability a car ride to the hospital
costs as much as an ambulance nowadays anyway
anyhow my phlebotomist says
my legs are crawling into my ass
rolling frothing static
Sylvia Jones is associate poetry editor at Black Lawrence Press. She recently served as the 2021-22 Stadler Fellow in literary editing for West Branch at Bucknell University. She also works intermittently as a reader for Ploughshares. Her recent work appears in Shenandoah, The Hopkins Review, DIAGRAM, Split Milk, Poet Lore, and elsewhere. She earned her MFA from American University in Washington D.C. and lives and writes in Baltimore with her partner and their cat. Find her on Instagram.