2 Poems by Sloane Eliot Mariem

Schopenhauer

A year ago I carried your child
a thankless month
and change
began to grip me,
losing parts of myself
into that vacuum
in an assembly-line OR
with numbness dripped
into my veins
my executioner was a man
he played pop music as i went under
strapped into nylon cords and spread
leaving our art vulnerable
a bad mother
a destroyer of worlds
sculpted in flesh
scissors are a woman’s weapon and I
cut short potential to create instead
with words that make refuge
from earth and will and strife
my whole business built
on moving humans
from the pain of existence
one way or another.

Full of Grace

here i am
all mourning
future losses
now i am jolie
laide legs stretching
from here to dying
day light falls
and skin cracks
open to change
and women we lose
ourselves valued
on shining hair
pert breasts where
you put mouth to
feed your
hunger now and
at the hour
of your death
amen

Sloane Eliot Mariem is a Florida-raised, Brooklyn-based poet exploring trauma, recovery, and the formation of new relationships in the wake of domestic violence. Her work has appeared in Vending Machine Press and Electric Cereal and she has read in NYC as part of the Vapors reading series.