Claressinka Anderson
2022 Michelle Boisseau Prize Runner-Up
—
The Blades
On a clear day I see them
glower above the island—
where clouds gang
& planes disappear
into the disappointment
of buildings below.
The blades raze through the sky,
returning the sun
with their mirrored faces—We’re coming for you,
they say,
& when I fling open my window,
they enter my skin
with howling precision:
Holes & holes & holes.
How many letters to fill a breach?
How many tongues?
I was only a small girl
when he licked my face in the dark.
Only a small girl
when I learned the mores
of silence. It’s said there are no words
for certain things—
For bodies held,
& down
& limbs.
But the words fly out, all around
they are pouring,
garlands, ribbons
We’re coming for you,
they say— I was only a small girl
when I learned the mouth is a home
for blades.
Only a small girl
when he came for me.
Claressinka Anderson’s poems and essays have appeared in Best New Poets 2022, Los Angeles Review of Books, Autre Magazine, bedfellows, Chiron Review, Contemporary Art Review Los Angeles (Carla), and elsewhere, as well as in the anthology, Choice Words: Writers on Abortion (Haymarket Books, 2020). Through her ongoing collaborations with artists, her work engages the interstitial spaces of contemporary art, literature, and music. She recently wrote her first libretto, and the opera is now in development. Anderson holds an MFA in writing and literature from Bennington College. Born and raised in London, she lives in Los Angeles and dreams about rain. You can find her at claressinka.com
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