Listen to Sol Camarena Medina read “Sick Woman.”

 

Your mouth so blue even birds
get lost in it.

Nobody realizes
how sick you are, not even your doctor, oh no, they’re all praising
your sapphire tongue, your teeth like tiny turquoises hanging on an ancient necklace
your palate smells of the dead but your lover’s turned into a raven
and waits for the funeral the way you wait for harvest.

There’s a boulder stuck on your throat, a pebble inserted on your kidney
sickness tastes sweet when you cover it in sugar, but you can’t eat it with tomato on it
like you did with bread slices as a child.

You’ve always liked sweets, however
today you’re praying for someone to nail scratch the cake coating
topping your skin, your smile and your blue hands
you’ve rung the war bells already
but everybody keeps dancing.

 

 

Sol Camarena Medina is a mad lesbian poet from Valencia, Spain who’s also a loud laugher and lover. she was born in 1997 and she’s self-published three poetry books in Spanish – pétalos y espinas + ya lo escribieron ellas + estival + her poems are featured in diverse publications & anthologies both in English & in Spanish. she’s also written on mental health & feminism for Spanish magazines + she runs an online platform for contemporary women artists, @artebruja + she’s co-editor for Spanish feminist magazine La Gorgona. she has open commissions for poems all year round. You can donate to her Ko-Fi, email her for commissions, and follow her on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.