POETRY

cut in the earth

By Kimberly Ramos     VOLUME 54.2

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i have come to dread / the digging / i have heard all the sayings / dig long enough and you’ll reach / china / magma / dead dinosaurs / men and women come / for excavation / they take apart hearts / move aside guts / cut through peritoneum / they leave stakes and tags / here, the penny i swallowed as a child / here, the spider that crawled / down my throat / they tell me they can retrieve / my history easily / in layers of clay / and roots / here, a red line from crying / here, thick loam from a good year / i say, what do you see / they say, quiet i’m reading / they scan me for carbon / for cruelty / for dead creatures / they find bodies / on bodies / on bodies / the men and women that came before / seeking riches / digging ditches / the deeper you go / the more dangerous it gets / some wanted my gold teeth / my turquoise bones / the silvery backs of my eyes / others wanted to discover a new land / to make a map / of epidermis / dermis / subcutaneous fat / but i have been known and named before / bone breaker / bog brain / cold desert / fallen city / who knew i had / all of that in me / i am sorry / i do not mean to eat / indiscriminately / but i cannot tell the difference / between / tomb raiders and lovers / i open my jagged maw / i chew and swallow / i add knuckles and knees / to the dark earthy feast / i am the sinking grave / i am the hungry pit / i suck love to dust / i leave fields fallow / stop asking me / for a relic or a ruby / all i hold / are cold bones / leathery souls / and the aching need / to know / and be known



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KIMBERLY RAMOS (they / she) is a queer, Filipina writer from Missouri. They are currently an undergraduate of philosophy and creative writing at Truman State University. They enjoy philosophy of mind, board games, and slasher movies. Their work has been published or is forthcoming in Jet Fuel Review, the Lindenwood Review, and West Trade Review, among others. They were recently nominated for Best New Poets by Whale Road Review and declared a finalist for the Eastern Iowa Review chapbook contest. They greatly value platonic love, overly specific playlists, and stories in all forms.


VOLUME 54.2