Marlene Effiwatt

A response to Brandon Drew Holmes

My Son. Your Face Shines Like One Who Has Come To Know...

I.
If I cry for the right reason
my snot comes out blue
my sister is my favorite
sparring partner she is
the only other one
who knows black people
invented water (read:
ocean faith).

II.
The body as a portal.

III.
I am a Master Mason—
we are goblin-cocked,
black formal.

 

Process Notes

Process notes go here.

Marlene Effiwatt

Marlene Effiwatt is from Tucson, Arizona. She is an MFA candidate in Poetry at the Iowa
Writers’ Workshop. Her work has appeared in The Iowa Review.