Nefertiti Asanti

2019 winter tangerine fellow; mentor: Xandria Phillips

qi'ar/ra as the hanged man

cotton brands my achilles heel rope indecisive  
titans round my ankle i sway 
back of my head just misses  the trunk’s bark 
arms braided  cross my chest i sway 
yellow itch purples my foot heel-to-toe 
await numb light bulb crackles below 
my head pools with blood/i sway gather gentle wind 
grateful limbs can keep a promise 
my eyes settle on clouds mirror the candle 
i burned to get here a dry cough 
gifted to me the last wildfire the dog-mouthed froth 
i refused the day i went mad/i sway closer to the clouds 
cannot keep my seat cushioned— an obscene  obsidian assigned soft 
not delicate— i am gawd i require no particular comfort/so i sway 
ascend worth a measure of flesh-bodied asés 
forgiveness my mother-orphaned grandmother 
wax-coated temple floss unlimited lovers 
honor their limits raccoons & cornhusks acknowledge 
i am human bullets disintegrate at conception 
divine masculinity unlocks cages birds sing their own names 
poets eat hunger hunger satisfies an opus of you are enough’s 
i sway before altars rebuilding themselves 
  

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Nefertiti Asanti is a writer, cultural worker & occasional performance poet from the Bronx, NY. Nefertiti is a fellow of Hemispheric Institute’s EMERGENYC (2015), The Watering Hole (2016, 2017), Lambda Emerging Writer’s Retreat (2018) & Anaphora Writing Residency (2018). The Queer Cultural Center commissioned Nefertiti's writing and performance work Black Blood Is… for the 2017 National Queer Arts Festival. Nefertiti has also read poetry for the 2018 Honeysuckle Press Chapbook Contest. Nefertiti’s work can be found at Winter Tangerine, AfroPunk, Foglifter, & elsewhere.