Foreman, Aricka 2016
Crying love, in tongues
of false thunder. If my body is a nation—and by body I mean
my black queer pussy, it’s phantom and light—is a paperweight
pressing a constitution like a new shirt.
– Aricka Foreman, “Republic Americana”
I take my father’s nose and shove it in a box.
My mother’s mouth lays claim to the vowels
Of my making. I learned to tend and till and dig
and there is something like a hole where a good
family should be but instead I have the good people
who do the best they can with what they have.
– Aricka Foreman, “FIELD STUDY #1”
Read this interview with Aricka Foreman from Luther Hughes:
“I’m a human with a petulant and sensual need for pleasure”: An Interview with Aricka Foreman
Dream with a Glass Chamber (YesYes Books, 2016), is a frightening chapbook. From dreamlike lyricism, to down right obsessive verse, Foreman manipulates the reader from space to space, allowing us entry to, what would be otherwise, a private sphere. The eloquent ways in which Foreman tarries along each dreamscape is damn near maddening.
There is no homonym for disappearing, only
synonyms. Vanish into the ivory tower language.
Perish beneath split selves. End her. Die her. Fade.
Dissolve one blue bupropion until numb. Melt away
thick kink with bleach, die one patch pink.
– Aricka Foreman, “Dream Coated with Fluoxetine”
Watch Aricka Foreman read for the Chicago Poetry Center, with Tyehimba Jess:
Six Points Reading Series
Poets Tyehimba Jess and Aricka Foreman are featured in an event hosted by the Poetry Center of Chicago and curated by Natasha Mijares. This program was recorded by Chicago Access Network (CAN TV).
