my not
I pretend to be other things
but my remains the hardest
how do I encircle a hole
without the exit wound,
or occupy presence
when I am pretensed
body flipped over—
over then over
the ins and outs
become synonyms
how do I sense
but apprehension—
viscous thing haunting,
a no state of matter
the only state I am in
is restlessness,
I step in out of my self
until the lines—
there are no lines
only history in margins:
I become a global other—
everywhere a citizen
except where it matters:
country. nation. home.
antonyms for body—
I name these anatomy
to pretend to god—
these, not my: man-
made made-up. whole-
body portrait with
a hole for a face—
you can find me
in a carnival standing
beside a mechanical
turk. take a photo of me,
in me, out me, share
me with your friends
until the cardboard softens
to pulp. I empty my
remains in a landfill.
I pretend to hold a seed.
Miguel Barretto García’s poems have appeared or have been accepted in RHINO, Palette Poetry, Magma Poetry, wildness, harana poetry, Rattle, The Kindling, among others. Born in the Philippines to a mixed-race Chinese and Spanish family, they currently compete in poetry slams around Switzerland. They hold a PhD in decision neuroscience from the University of Zurich, and they currently live between London and Zurich.