COURAGED! by the body as a quiver of arrows

tommy wyatt blake

after wim

the body as toyhacked. body as premature goreform, a marionette of blood and fluid and sinewy muck. body as more. body as rubylipped ocean, as in drenched in you, as in hoping for something to grasp onto. body is trapped, body is recycled from its O t h e r  l a c k.  b o d y  a s  I m a g e , polaroidpunctured flashes of late night; body as peerless void staring right at you.

the body shudderfogs the Form of you in the gyroscope of seclusion vestibule blue. how do you know how you feel, how bad you make the body hurt, blankness pulling you to a threaded nothing, haze of insulation pink. do you think the wetslick of courage vestiges time on the tongue like eyelashes, like wishing for ashen stars of Artemis pounding in your chest?

body as dayveil twitching in the periphery of your retinas, probing for further instruction. when you need to wait for the body to sharpen to a quiver of arrows. then, aim (far away from yourself).

Feature Date

Series

Selected By

Share This Poem

Print This Poem

Color headshot of Tommy Wyatt Blake

tommy wyatt blake synthesizes cosmic computerization and the human condition. they are the author of NECROPIA, MUTUALLY ASSURED DESTRUCTION, FOR YOUR ENTERTAINMENT!, and other titles. you can read their poems in Poetry Daily, Broadkill Review, ANARKISS, Troublemaker Firestarter, and more.

Color cover image of "Mutually Assured Destruction" by tommy wyatt blake

PUBLISHER

Mutually Assured Destruction
Ethel Zine
  • Featured book

"In the background of technology, society, and horror, tommy wyatt blake explores the Self as a form of love and destruction. Each piece subverts norms previously placed on tommy, whether that be through form, content, description, or more. MUTUALLY ASSURED DESTRUCTION blends the candid, yet raw description of mania with the beauty of the self as horror, all in an effort to make sense of the world as his. With pointed lines like 'simmer down, why so morbid? your body’s a waterpunctured machine with an apparition sheen,' blake elucidates his self with a blend of humor and morbidity, almost as the two mimic each other. Through MUTUALLY ASSURED DESTRUCTION, tommy wyatt blake exposes himself for the world to see, forcing readers to stay watching the story of his life."
—arushi (aera) rege

"Reading tommy wyatt blake’s MUTUALLY ASSURED DESTRUCTION feels like stumbling upon the notes of a time-and-self scientist from a biohacked future, who has accidentally cloned Schrödinger’s cat using a remote viewing technique learned from religious myth. The compound neologisms that blake’s readers know and love are incisive tools for probing beyond the curtain of subjectivity; the body’s noun is 'dayveil,' 'lightfusion,' and 'diesurrogacy,' while its condition is 'humanruined,' 'toyhacked,' and 'truthpatched.' blake’s speaker aspires to answer the question of the verb: 'see how my Form shudderfogs between life and death?'”
—D.W. Baker

Poetry Daily Depends on You

With your support, we make reading the best contemporary poetry a treasured daily experience. Consider a contribution today.

DONATE NOW