“A Woman Built Like My Mother In Her Prime Is On the Corner of 73rd and Bancroft Naked and I'm Still Not Married” by Joshua Merchant

A Woman Built Like My Mother In Her Prime Is On the Corner of 73rd and Bancroft Naked and I'm Still Not Married

and no, I don’t blame either of us.
we are both bare. some would say we
have a beggar’s eyes. the kind you
can lock a moose knuckle around
and mistake for biddiebees. and I
do mean affectionately. ol’ lady sees
you crying cuz the kids tried to light
a match on the sides of your cheeks
affection. somebody out there still
love us type warmth. the sun shines on
all of us, and we are so exposed, and
no one would ever dare call us drug
or diseased free. and still the body supple.
firm. bounce back after you throw change
at us. spared a dollar type grip when we ask
about God. Know what you talkin’ bout if you
ask about us. About me and mine.

Joshua merchant

Joshua Merchant (THEY/THEM/THEIRS) is a Black Queer native of East Oakland, exploring what it means to be human as an intersectional being. A lot of what they’ve been exploring as of late has been in the realm of what it means to be a “delectable negro” in a world with an insatiable appetite for Blackness and the many ways we show up spiritually, mentally, and physically. They address the countless exaggerations of white fantasy as a means of humanizing the Black Queer experience through a lens only someone who grew up ashy and yet a teardrop slicker than the average lesson any corner store profit could provide. They've had the honor to witness their work being held and understood in literary journals such as 580Split, Roi Fianeant Press, Snow Flake Magazine, Corporeal, Anvil Tongue, Verum Literary Press, Ice Floe Press, Mongoose, and elsewhere. They have also received the 2023 San Francisco Foundation/Nomadic Press Literary Award for poetry and have been nominated for the 2024 Best of the Net anthology.

Headshot: Katelyn Lucas

Photo Credit: Staff