Aiwass

throat me with a pen & i’ll peel for a secret
did ur father eat           forked tongue or did you
scavenge for ice cubes /          i’m not asking for lilies just a pond
six swans turned glass            break a vase break a vase

brother, religion is gushing us like pigs
i wanted a thumb but received a box of chocolates

show me ur teeth         i need to sharpen them
ur body will be useful to the cause     a finger
to a pyramid of light               where do u hide ur ancient

boys with their shot guns on a blue planet boy with
their fingers in the lake boys with their tarot
turning sullen in the wake of a wrong reading

a future is basking in ultra violet        u r here

BAPHOMET

Only you really know I am half animal.
Half female. Half daughter. I see you
perched in the living room on the blue chair
your tongue a ribbon of light.

When will you come and save me?
I am trying all my devices. Ritual after
ritual. I can feel the precipice always—
a dangling depth there just out of reach.

In my nightmares I am naked down to the bone.
I wonder in a dense garden looking
for my daughter. She evaporates
from the bed. How can a man

be so alone with so many practices?
My magick is the only part of me
that is true. Come enter me.
Is there wholeness? I tilt.

Robin Gow is a trans poet and young adult author from rural Pennsylvania. They are the author of several poetry books, an essay collection, and a YA novel in verse, A Million Quiet Revolutions (FSG Books for Young Readers, 2022). Gow's poetry has recently been published in POETRY, Southampton Review, and Yemassee.