SELF-PORTRAIT
Where is the bridge between my body and yours?
This wobbling I in watercolour,
it gathers at the lines.
At the history of body. Trace the lineage
of love, of inherited propensities. The I in me expands,
becomes we:
placenta dotted with the permanence
of plastic, microscopic puzzle
of you and you and you times infinity
times. Sewage lines swollen with leftover
cooking oils, meat grease, the newborn’s first
waste smeared on a polypropylene wipe.
This collective clog of we.
This border of skin,
mutable.
Author’s Bio
Jenny Berkel is a poet and singer-songwriter. Her interests include investigating how a poem is a song and a song is a poem. She has released two albums (Here on a Wire and Pale Moon Kid) and has another one forthcoming. Her debut chapbook, Grease Dogs, was published in June 2021 with Baseline Press.
