A Poem by Keenan Teddy Smith

Author: Poetry Editor

June 12, 2019

This week, a poem by Keenan Teddy Smith.

Delivert

Don’t sing the song, don’t
_______.press the bottom. Don’t watch
it all spill from your lips,
_______.your hips falling amidst jagged
and bitter dead things. As
_______.an option, as his option, though
an option, though his,
_______.though killing all pleasure centers:
death to sex, intimate
_______.relation, and desire; and still
though—do so, and slowly,
_______.eyes peeling skin to reveal your ego
and eagerness to be seen, left
_______.on read, among the bitter dead, know that he’s
bleeding too, behind you. Look back
_______.if you will, stay salty, but, whatever you do
please save your song for yours.

——

KEENAN TEDDY SMITH is a poet and essayist from Flint, Michigan. For his senior thesis project, he wrote a chapbook of poems and curated images titled Syren. He has published poems in The Shade Journal, The Columbia Review, American Chordata, Foundry Journal, and T: the New York Times Style Magazine. His writings are meditations on Black queer kinships and visual culture.