Come Together

A Poetry Mixtape Edited by Brendan McLeod
The Poems
This city is beauty
unbreakable and amorous as eyelids,
in the streets, pressed with fierce departures,
submerged landings,
I am innocent as thresholds
...K was supposed to come with the key, I was
to wait outside the gate. I arrived on time,
the time we had agreed on and waited, as agreed,
outside the gate. I waited a...
Love, you ask too many questions.
Let’s agree: we are whole
—John Thompson, “Ghazal II”
...If you want to travel run
around the neighbourhood with an empty
suitcase in hand. At least once, full circle.
Wear yellow underwear
for the 31st, lest...
Do you remember, Nancy,
when we sat in the Creole restaurant
and glanced up at the television to see students running
with their hands in the air and photographs
...I’ve come to talk to you about shaving cuts
I was waiting across the road
right over there
for the light to turn
and you were on the other side
...
Hog Butcher for the World,
Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat,
Player with Railroads and the Nation’s Freight Handler;
...The world has become corrupted
from our hearts
to the way our gods love us
as if they know they’re already dying
and they’re determined to drag us down with...
with the tip of my spring tongue, ayîki
your mouth will be the web
catching apihkêsis words,
a...
There, the bolting black kale,
taller than it has any right to be
and not the twitter troll who asked
if you were on your period.
In the corner, a...
The Playlist
We are currently adding to the Mixtape playlists, so check back soon and often! Send us your recitation of one the poems in this Mixtape, and we may add it to the Playlist!
Recommended Reading
- Sinner's Welcome, Mary Karr
- Black Abacus, Ian Keteku
- Stag's Leap, Sharon Olds
- This is How We Disappear, Titilope Sonuga
- The Gospel of Breaking, Jillian Christmas
- What Narcissism Means to Me, Tony Hoagland
- In the Lateness of the World, Carolyn Forche
- Human Chain, Seamus Heaney
- The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath
- Notes from Childhood, Norah Lange



