Where Sandspurs and Mosquitoes Thrive
Modern poetry modern verse conteFmporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem
For Matt Gaetz
In Florida the afternoons are a parched
With crush of slugs called damp and guck and heat.
The slugs leave slime on skin where they have marched.
This time is gonorrhea leaving gleet
All over us. Our genitals are wet.
Discomfort spreads from them to everywhere
Where Satan lives. Our skin and spirits sweat.
Impatience sets a trap, a slow-grip snare,
And we are waiting, waiting, waiting for
Withheld escape. We understand in pits

Of dankness what it’s like for every whore
When strangers, so-called men, encroach on tits.
A thunderstorm brings lightning and relief
Of whooshing rain sheets flippantly too brief.
~ Phillip Whidden
by phillipw | Feb 24, 2025 | HU |