[wound material]
when I feel my thyroid
grind against the
sinews of my neck as I
turn my head, I imagine
the dying gland
wrapped in conditional
money / the notes,
letters minted for
telling me I am
ungrateful, stifle the
turn. each cracking
twist of gland against
muscle a snapping
rubber band reminding
me to behave better to
obey the conditions of
the money that has so
thickened the dead
gland that it causes
internal snapping
a constant, ordered shudder
not mended by swallowing
a blockage blocking speech
at least making the language
trapped in my throat inaudible
no one told me family was
another mode of commerce
it’s what’s not said that
silences
I, then, am unlanguaged
in my swollen throat / the
laws of capital
Christy Davids is a poet and teacher. She collects recordings at poetry//SOUNDS and co-curates the Philadelphia-based reading series Charmed Instruments. Some of her work can be found in VOLT, Open House, Bedfellows, Jacket2, Dusie, The Tiny, and the Poetry Foundation’s Harriet, among others. Her chapbook on heat (2017) was selected by the editors in BOAAT Press’s 2016 chapbook competition, and her chapbook wanton is forthcoming from DoubleCross Press.
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