Page 4 - In the Room of Thirsts & Hungers (sample)

Unsent Letter to Joseph McCarthy
Iago

There he sits, lustrous and choleric, not bred to suffer
Trespasses unchecked; his sharpened quill etching
Poison to paper: Dear Mr. McCarthy, Our troubles
Are kin. Robeson & Othello carry the same blood.

He leans over the wormwood desk, fury carved
Like a masthead into his eyes. One hand trails
Between his thighs, a rudder fixed to a flawed
Horizon: Paul Robeson mocks you in his letters

To Othello. Paul names you a pansy with scarlet lips.
This is true beauty, begging no forgiveness. Janus,
Staring two ways to sunset. Every ragged second,

Jealousy, the whip that flogs him across the universe.
Every word shaped like a battle axe. Is thirst a curse
If the only water stomached is what can be stolen?
In righteous truth, Mr. McCarthy, we are the same

Naked patch of sky. Beset by the same black ram.