Mercury’s fang & the next world
by Carlos Mauricio Rojas
12/04/2020 | poetry | 2 minute read
May the calamity heal you,
that wounded coil
trained to heal others.
Strong enough to impact
the Arctic and draw
string from his
crucifixion.
Some beautiful unwrapping
of rosary beads,
at the break of praise
sears neural conversations,
that make sense
of swallowing
a pint of pills.
I’ve let blood know
the meaning of a punch bag.
Dragged the head of Minos
through this labyrinth
with no need for string.
With bared teeth harbouring
extracts of a heart,
the Minotaur speaks in tangles.
Begin again, with the butterfly
palms cutting through
cable lines. Strike only
the nerves linked
to sky-scrapers
and watch
the cinematic
apocalypse of wealth.
My hands are chalk-numb
my knuckles have learnt
how to say drop dead
with follow through.
My walls have talked
they’re shadows
against my fists.
When the fight begins
assume the stance of mercury’s fang
carve herstories
on your wrists,
on your clavicle.
When the silence wears off
we dress in shimmering blue,
disrupting comfortability,
and gauging to the diameter
of the Next World
somewhere in this one.
In front of us,
a mother cries,
another road named
after her dead child.
Beside you, he wrings
the cloth he used
to wash her back,
then throws the malo
into the fire.
Indicating the life length,
of an archives bruising.
So soar with the blackbirds
song. Hold close
every photo,
and scrap-notes.
Pin them
to your chest.
Pattern the face
with the plants of places
our mother’s walked on.
Listen to the distance,
because its all that
will be left when they come
to take our kindred.
Don’t run away,
just tell me about the time
you drew the atmosphere with wire
strong enough to harden ice caps
and mend a stigmata
with tinctures and stitches.
This path is yours.
about Carlos (they/them/theirs)
Carlos Mauricio Rojas is a spoken word poet & performer. A recipient of the Invisible Presence program for British/Latinx poets and co-founder of Maricumbia the queer dance party for QTIBPOC (Queer, trans, Intersex, black, people of colour). They're work dissects latinidad and navigates what it means to be queer, mixed race, and British/Colombian. Confronting roman catholic doctrine and investigating the devastation of colonialism through myth retelling and ancestral stories.
of the title, Carlos says: the title is inspired by Cristy C Road's Tarot deck design called 'Next World' tarot, body positive QTIBIPOC centered and politically aware, and revolution-driven design that functions as a tool of ushering in the next world. Expanding our consciousness to the idea that another world is possible. see their work at @croadcore