My Hands Are Full of Gold and Gold Is Full of Blood, and: It Is Dark Where I Am From

Abstract

My Hands Are Full of Gold and Gold Is Full of Blood, and: It Is Dark Where I Am From Quenton Baker (bio) [ See PDF for formatting of these poems. ] My Hands Are Full of Gold and Gold Is Full of Blood a habitable absence abscessan abyss i pry i private i precipitate the lack a locust-mouth i slouchwith the body of a thiefa purloined library for a chest but whose isn't? my best home is the one i was stolen to my best memories are ones i thought wouldn't be missed i am a swamp gas golembig-jawed bogeything excuse for the sinister a trash can for fear [End Page 58] all i wantis a kind handrecognizing my spine a whispered joke i belong to curving the edge of a bladed earth It Is Dark Where I Am From then i surfaceat what cost? this inelegant returnto breath a staccato flip of pelagic refuse sick and garbage-mindedcoughing up curry lids loose condoms i wear my body like a research vessel a broken instrument in one-way transit curl up in me i say to no one come sit with me i say while retrofitting lungs for the abyssal layer it is deep where i am fromto come to me is to give up [End Page 59] loving me is a slammed doorin jeweled orchestral echo closing must be beautiful too [End Page 60] Quenton Baker Quenton Baker is a poet, educator, and Cave Canem fellow. His current focus is black interiority and the afterlife of slavery. His work has appeared in The Offing, Jubilat, Vinyl, The Rumpus, and elsewhere. He is a two-time Pushcart Prize nominee, and the recipient of the 2018 Arts Innovator Award from Artist Trust. He was a 2019 Robert Rauschenberg Artist in Residence and a 2021 nea Fellow. He is the author of we pilot the blood (The 3rd Thing, 2021) and the forthcoming ballast (Haymarket, 2023). Copyright © 2022 University of Nebraska Press