flowers on lockjaw
overflow amorphous :: us ourselves :: let the flowers do the talking ::
concentric syllables :: head tethered petals endlessly feeling :: strength ::
we will pretend our tongue is a flag :: scream and scream :: windswept independence ::
face to fabric :: tattered appendage ::
plucking :: whiplash :: withhold holes in :: visible history and decipher time ::
a mirror image is not my image :: that one in the window :: arches ::
the story of materials though materials :: give life :: take life :: solace upon falling ::
blooming resilience with abnormality twisted in :: pollinating cages :: flailing by garden standards ::
crash landing :: laughing parallel :: laughing our heads :: loose ::
toothed loosening enters text between atoms :: welcome cavity :: dropping people as they lean in ::
vestigial beginnings :: truth in ventricles :: intoxicated by blood as ::
a mixture of oxygen and plasma and ancestry :: all pouring out :: mixed where it tumbles ::
slippery :: filling bed frames :: articulate mattress :: togetherness feels better :: coming in dust ::
constellation adornments of stories :: claims to unrelenting sanctuary ::
passing on place-based reconciliation ::
for us it takes time to remember the order of things ongoing :: this sky sleeps in the daytime ::
the shapes of birds :: embedded ellipsoids torn into embellishment :: layers of feathers ::
all softness :: no contrast :: flying :: flies into my mouth ::
chemical premonition of the eggshell body and greedy maladapted puppetry ::
what knowing means and shells scatter :: delicate ::
tracing leaves
tracing leaves :: searching for alternating wind dependent pathways ::
repeat to rely on shapeshifting :: keeping traces of otherness :: restore units of freshwater ::
traced in spigots of illegible lettering :: traces of leaves against the sky :: roots in asphalt ::
for space above us as so below us :: leaves rustle :: drugged ::
medicinal ambiguity :: leaving traces of a metallic tang in our spit ::
and tongues that lick like leaves against water :: linguistic droplets on a plastic ::
cut against assimilated flavors of sustenance :: trace the membrane of the wrapping ::
leaving :: letters left unsaid in savory enslavement ::
leaving the atmosphere when it is too dark to sleep alone or together :: traces flattened ::
silhouette across a ceiling :: negative space to remember the sky ::
shattered shards of stars smiling on roofs :: remembering leaves dissecting memories ::
leaving seasonal :: supple nostalgia :: a hurried home hungry history ::
holding up lessons from an older ozone layer :: lullaby traces the sound of an opening lock ::
leaving leaves me wondering what it would have been like if I stayed ::
who is you that is I :: how am I ? :: you are leaving :: but it was me ::
motives tracing the outline of self against curtains :: window equals world ::
we are jumping the window and :: listening to the sounds of an alter :: change implodes ::
wind tracing panes of glass :: leaving some skeleton again :: run wild on fossils :: traces of wild animal :: scattering gasoline :: pent up kinesis :: on traces of footprints :: of wheels tracing pavement ::
lines lead leaves in a flight spiral :: falling :: to decompose failing to :: release the bodies at ::
the right time writhing :: windswept leaves :: traces against a streetlight stencil ::
beams across traces :: telltale signs of rain ::
Ursula Zia is a Pakistani-American artist and writer living nomadically. They were born in Atlanta, GA, and grew up in Burlington, VT. Their work combines subjects of biophilia, diaspora, and lullaby to guide a collective imagination through an inconstant landscape of text and image. Their work has been displayed in ArtsWorcester, the Hawthorne Review and the Other Half. They are currently in progress publishing a manuscript titled A Collective Coined as a Singular Entity, and several other chapbooks.