Are We Fear
The sky told me nothing about myselfThe stars told me nothing about myselfJupiter gave me zeroExcept that I am dustWhich is a lot to go onBut not enough to stop the deathWhere are we going to live?I said to my unknown selfWhen one of us is deadShe did not sayBut opened up a curtainWhere her silence livedAnd I went behind the curtainAnd laid my skeleton downI lay in silence as she stroked my tired headAnd then I heard a roaring crowdAnd knew that I had been onstageAnd knew that I was good
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- October 23, 2021
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“Are We Fear” from SUPERDOOM: by Melissa Broder.
Published by Tin House August 10th, 2021.
Copyright © 2021 by Melissa Broder.
All rights reserved.
Reproduced by Poetry Daily with permission.
Luke Fontana
Melissa Broder is the author of the novels Milk Fed and The Pisces, the essay collection So Sad Today, and four poetry collections, including Last Sext. Broder has written for The New York Times, Elle.com, VICE, Vogue Italia, and The Cut. She is the winner of a Pushcart Prize for poetry. She lives in Los Angeles.
"Each line is a little heartbeat hurling down the abyss."
—Patricia Lockwood
"Broder has a virtuosic sense of herself and is able to convey, through poetry, the form of her whole mind process. In turn, we see our deepest selves reflected back."
—Daniel Lopatin
"Her poems eviscerate the reader with their misty and murky charm."
—Dorothea Lasky
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