Two Poems
by Malik Thompson
Bible Study
David’s triumph, Goliath’s
body dissolving into overgrowth,
hyacinth blooming in the gaps
between his wind-stroked bones
in a darkness warmed with
my mother’s voice & siblings’
skin, I yearned to become
flower clusters snaking
into a giant’s rib-cage,
or a single blood-flecked stone
Aubade With Faint Uncertainty
Awakening, with your body
pressed deeply into mine, I listen
to the sparrows flit
from tree to shedding tree,
singing their sunrise chorus.
The October air
laced with this autumn’s first
frost, your arm—fine-boned,
the color of East Coast sand—
draped across my naked chest.
You mutter behind my ear, eyes
shut, still dreaming. A gush
of words spoken from someplace
I can never touch. Your bed
smells of citrus soap
& semen, an echo
of last night,
the way you throbbed
in my hand. I turn,
lips nuzzling the soft
skin between your ear
& neck, & catch
a glimpse of a yellow leaf
falling
Malik Thompson is a Black queer man from Washington, DC. His work is featured, or forthcoming, in Cobra Milk, Sundog Lit, Diode, MQR Mixtape, Oroboro, Poet Lore, and other places. He has received support from Lambda Literary, Obsidian Foundation, Brooklyn Poets, Cave Canem, and other organizations. He can be found on Instagram via the handle @latesummerstar