Write It Out for the Both of Us
From a New Poets Prize finalist, four whirling lyrics on the body and mind.
poet Karrington Garland. Salvation South New Poets Prize. Southern poets.
Air Thin Girl
all the air thin girls i come across with wobbly legs
& knocked knees think themselves doe wob think themselves
fawn think themselves animal selves doe wobecause we are always
collecting our own bones to hide away in becbecbby we i mean me
i’m all the air thin girls i’ve ever come across or loved silently
i live on their slow breaths & controlled cross o disorder
i live on their slothere is something about the way we hunt ourselves
i live on th & present our bodies to the cold world spinning beneath
our cracked toes pre as if we are martyrs p efor the causes steaming
& bubbling up in our heads pre pre pre pre the fantasies of dying pretty
pre pre pre por with purpose pre pre pre prthat sustain us through
pre pre pre pthe slowdays of living in constant survival n us throhmode
this poem is for the air thin girl in my ribcage survivawho knows she needs help
& doesn’t seek it thir the one who takes it upon herself to save herself
& she always gets caught in the crossfire of my body at war with itself
& she it feeds gets ca& feeds gea& feedsgea & feeds on getnothing
& she & everything gets cagets cskeletal
& she it feeds gets ca& feeds gea& feedsgea & feeds on the act of decay
i am always thinking myself gcainto slow decay gets head piled high with true
crime & the ways i can die by another’s hands maybe that’s why
the air thin girl in me takes it upon herself to make sure she can complete the
act of killing this body in slow increments toshe wants to be in control of
act ofme ling this bwants to do the killing before another can snatch this body
from her ling this b&& i want to be in control of her inside me
we are both two air thin girls fighting for control in a body set to rot to the
pace of our heartbeat hin girls figheach thump an act of spoil taking
place inside me artbei am romanticizing the slowdeath i’m running
towards running nside me artowards the sad romanticization of me
dying by my own hands but not dying by my own hands ationthe
thought of the act sustains the air thin girl in me & i iti ci i want
i want wantwant wa ntI want want to control the sunset of my
body want i want want i want want want want waa say in how
i die want i want want w i want want want want waa say in the
deterioration of my body wa nt i want to love myself to death
i eterioration of mwanteter f m i eteriowant i eteriwant
the air thin girl in me to be proud of our inevitable ending
the air thin girl in mwant her to be proud of how i write it out for the
both of us
poet Karrington Garland. Salvation South New Poets Prize. Southern poets.
DEAD FAIRY, DEAD FAIRY I CAN’T LOVE YOU
the dead fairy rotting & quick stepping
on my brain stem wants me to love her
on my full bellied & unconditional
but unconditional loveon my on isn’t love
on my on my on my on my oor real
so i’ll let her rot heartless & barren in me
on my hold her hostage to my unbridled
thoughts
on my on my & the waves of my slow frenzied panic
the thought of on my on my on love brings
her fluttering wings physical manifestation
of my heartbeat battling inside my ribcage
for stillness
on my on my but still she goes on & on
on my pacing & howling about love
on my on my & how possession roots
on my on my itself in all of us on in love
on my & how the bats echolocating inside her
on my want to know about it too as they wither inside
the hot labyrinth of her ears they wanna hear how
the feeling bubbles in me
on my hot boil of over indulgent emotions
o love on my on is a door knock away
on my on my on mfrom obsession n mfor me
it’s a build up on mof on my slow on y rage
on my hiding inside on my on my on my trachea
never ready to strike on my but baking in me
the fairy hearing these thoughts cuts back at me
on my about soulmates
on my about hope on my on my & afterbirth
on my on my about the romance of sunsets
on my on my & lack of sex
she wants me to love heron my whole
on my on my on my & i cannot do so
even as the bats are screeching on in her inner ear about
how i got here on my on m asking me how i got here
on my on my like i plotted out the journey clear
on my on my in front of me on my on my winding road to
on my on my on my on my on my on my on my nowhere
desolate & loveless
on my on my i’m a human void with no answers
poet Karrington Garland. Salvation South New Poets Prize. Southern poets.
OH MY LOVE
oh my after FKA twigs “oh my love”
oh my love,
oh my call me your altar
oh my it’s been a long road oh my to nowhere
the least you could do is
oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my worship me
365 days around the sun with you oh m&
making all the big decisions for oh my you
the way you looked at me to oh myoh lead
i might as well have been your oh omy deity
oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh moh my love,
oh my oh my oh my oh my i know oh our love
quicksand & cannibalism
gnawing on the hand that feeds oh my you
ohoh oh my my ohoh my love, oh my gods
are hard to stomach
you couldn’t stomach me oh my oh myme
all knowing knew how to stomach oh you
how to hold you inside me like youro mother
oh my love, how you must miss her oh womb
oh my her damp suffocating walls
oh my the stench of her repressive warmth
oh
my
love, i know how to handle you oh like a o dog
oh my oh my oh my oh my oh myoh my love,
i know our love oh my oh my oh my oh mbones
oh my love, you’re a dog oh my oh my ogo bury them
oh my love oh my oh my o oh my oh m hide our love
oh my oh my o oh myhowl at me.
you’re a whelp of a thing oh my oh my so let me hear you
imma moon god now oh my oh my o so you have no choice but to
oh my oh my o oh mybow to me
ohoh my oh my o oh my o my oh my oh my o love,
your not my love oh my o yet i know oh my ohow silently
your thoughts
oh my oh my o oh my oh my o oh mworship me
poet Karrington Garland. Salvation South New Poets Prize. Southern poets.
Sheepgirl
1. And when she doesn’t ask for a diagnosis
of her sheepbrain, draw a diagram of it with all the
edges hued in muddy gray, tell her she’s gonna get so
fat & fit for slaughter, her meaty heart will leak into a
skeleton fruit ripe enough to gnaw on, her minuscule
girlego so tasty it gives cataracts, makes the insatiable
go baa & blind on her bone marrow
2.aa & blindshe so desperately desires a
herding aa & blind keen for a dissection of her
gray watered encephalon a she wants to be led
by the neck into limbo loose her lithe face to
a gust of desolate didactic hopeless dreams
3.aa & blindaa & blindaa & bwatch her walk into
her own shadow & get caught in the unearthed
darkness unfelting from it, she knows nonsense yet
memorized the back of her sheephandaa & its
warm fur smoking, so much easier to digest her
rolled up into something suspended & breezy
aa & ndshe’s so painless to stomach
aa & blind in small airy sheep doses,
aa & blind count her vapor to sleep,`
aa & blind watch her baa into a lull
aa & blind filled daze of pretty little
aa & blind euphemismsaa & blindaa & blind bleating
for her mother’s scent bloodless & bound to a
skeletal grave aa & bli bones bleached for silver-
ware aa & blinda she memorized the back of
her sheephand because it is in constant mourning
aa & blindaa & her human mother aa & blind not
aa & blindaa & blind dead but ghosting out her cuticles
4. she was groomed by her infantile father’s
psyche taught to herd it into her mournful fingers
cradle the misunderstood trauma Narcissus left for
feed aa & bli she’s been ingesting it so long her
innards sound like his laughter belching from her
trachea
5. graphite her with her sheepskin shedding
into a fleshed-out mass of fur let her name it girl
let her herd it into her tiny sheepheart aa & bli she’s never
owned anything but weightlessness & lungs primed
to scream
Karrington Garland is a self-proclaimed shy poet from Raleigh, North Carolina, working as an associate producer at Kentucky Educational Television in Lexington. Next fall, she’ll begin her MFA at the University of South Carolina.
Wonderful ♥️