Vitrification

Taylor Franson-Thiel

 

“The Apotheosis of familiar abuses…is the vilest of superstitions,” -S. T. Coleridge

“It is in hysteria that filling the mouth with salt answers the best purpose,” -J. Elliotson

The name I am called now is stuck      behind the thick     tunnel of my throat     
My tongue, a wary tollbooth to superstition     Apotheosizing myself into stained glass      
by that I mean so much of my     body is in fragments     I throw all my teeth      
over my shoulder for good luck     I am waiting      for the scorching white sand my mother ate     
while pregnant with me to      cool in my chest     This I believe     is what they call heritage    
How in the space between     when she and I were      one body      and now was enough    
time for me to take my new name      in my fist     swallow it whole     Neither of us believe    
in tempering     We believe in temperatures     hot enough to choke on.


Taylor Franson-Thiel is a poet from Utah, now based in Fairfax, Virginia. Her debut collection, “Bone Valley Hymnal” is forthcoming in 2025 from ELJ Editions. She is an editorial reader for Poetry Daily, Assistant Poetry Editor for phoebe and the EIC of BRAWL. She can be found at taylorfranson-thiel.com

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