#sunset vans

[lifeinpoetry]

in the morning we hear that the government is shutting down & we hope they mean for good /& we rejoice / because we used to think there could be art warm enough to melt the knots of hate out of the body politic / but now we know / this country was built rotten / stayed rotten the whole way through

what i am saying is i feel helpless every day

— NM Esc, from "Sunset Vans,” We Want It All: An Anthology of Radical Trans Poetics, eds. Andrea Abi-Karam & Kay Gabriel

[lifeinpoetry]

if property is theft and theft is proper then i’m going to put my fist right through the sun and pull the light out. because we didn’t choose or want these bodies / but we are losing the right to repair them / & we need that warmth to hold each other up

if property is theft and theft is holy then i am proud / of every single year we’ve stolen back / of how much joy / is possible / to haul away from here / before the fuckers catch us.

— NM Esc, from "Sunset Vans,” We Want It All: An Anthology of Radical Trans Poetics, eds. Andrea Abi-Karam & Kay Gabriel

[lifeinpoetry]

& now we have this van & if there wasn’t so much work to do we could just drive it straight into a canyon & live slow. what i am saying is i still feel most at home up & down an open interstate / & i could use that calm to spread / because there is so much to hold / & i have such strange dreams here.

— NM Esc, from "Sunset Vans,” We Want It All: An Anthology of Radical Trans Poetics, eds. Andrea Abi-Karam & Kay Gabriel