yes, the water is still brown, and: record 10309., and: bloom dezireé a. brown (bio) yes, the water is still brown after Flint, MI the city still // breathing buses churn down the Vehicle City 's poisoned throat yes, the neglected river / still hisses & groans beneath soiled brick yes, the fountain is overflowing // with police yes, this is a city underwater a dirty bathtub / a lost key swirling a stringy handful of lead // yes, my cousin bathed in bottled water on her birthday. & the next one. & the next one. & the next. [End Page 72] record 10309. Your mother points out your name in the big book of animals.Not deer. Not eagle. Neither ox nor elephant. Her finger curls around serpent, shifty-eyed betrayer, all-knowing evil. She seesthe son in your eyes and weeps. The forest leans in as you fester in the mud. She mistakes your scabs and scars for scales; binderfor rebellious armor; black lipstick as feeble prayer; wet face as admission of sin. A shrill cry erupts from her henpecked chestand the ravens answer, circling you, the abomination, in small, tight rotations. Your mother sees the sun in your eyes and weeps. Hersycamore trees are smoking; bright orange sparks engulf the sky. She reaches into a bundle of burning leaves and pulls outa cleaver, drags it slowly across your thick, hairy chin: her holy castration. Her ravens observe from afar, twirling above the blaze. [End Page 73] bloom bloom (noun): 1. the flowering state, as in this smoldering has stopped; as in the ground [my skin] is fertile; as in I can no longer hibernate carrying a flame between cracked ribs; as in the sky has finally opened her eyes and, seeing my misery, pours water upon the earth. 2. a period of flowering, as in not here or here or here, but here, underneath the riverbed; as in every minute I spent in the shower with Aphrodite and Hathor, rinsing suds, detangling curls, pressing jeweled fingers against my sobbing womb; as in I vowed to never again drink beer with the sun; as in the moon wrapped constellations around my neck to teach me a new song. 3. blossom, as in I am a river taking a bath with open windows; as in look, touch these peonies and then, these orchids: watch how they grow from this scalp like the moon planted them herself. [End Page 74] dezireé a. brown dezireé a. brown is a Black queer nonbinary Pushcart Prize-nominated poet, scholar, and sjw, born and raised in Flint, MI. They often claim to have been born with a poem written across their chest. Their work is featured in Anomaly, beestung, and the anthology A Garden of Black Joy, among others. Copyright © 2023 University of Wisconsin Board of Regents