The cities I've lived in have killed over & over again. My favorite poems are all set in winter. My lover watches buffleheads dive in the lake. There has never been any evidence. When I die, too, will you ask for evidence? The city is tearing down my body with a heavy-headed yellow crane. My favorite poems are love poems. My lover doesn't have documents for travel. There has never been any evidence. Can I mail you a court order? Can I mail you my medical records? How about my corpse, in a paper boat? I'll float it across the lake. It will be marked by terrible violence. I ask you only to bear it.
Macks Cook (they/them) is a trans poet from Texas. They have an MFA from Syracuse University, where they acted as co-editor-in-chief of Salt Hill. Their work is published or forthcoming in Poetry Online, Columbia Journal, Off Season Mag, and underblong. You can find Macks on Instagram (@mothmacks).