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