Differential Diagnosis (IV.)
to name
to have been good &
named
into clouded
waifish
distress
SOS
send okay
send me to that great sad
struggling world of things
yes yes oh ah yes!
my body brims
with worries they wing w
mothpow er
leak w
beetles
fly like desire2
mouth
this crystalline pill
glows long beneath my
diaphragm
after Hannah Emerson
Differential Diagnosis XIV.
A pigeon is the story
of a bad dove. I dive
down center with the thinnest
gauge and leave a mark.
The drvoice bowels “hey, you there!
No theory will protect you here.
Redemarcate the boundaries
of your knowing.” Oh, I know
I am a wretch
to his glamour.
Could he make a person
of me yet. Yes, drvoice, I hear
you loud and clear. I know
the difference between odd
and awed.
1
1
[sarah] CAVAR is an anti-genre writer, PhD candidate, and instructor of undergraduates on both u.s. coasts. Their debut novel, Failure to Comply, is forthcoming with featherproof books (2024). Cavar is editor-in-chief of manywor(l)ds.place, and has had work published in The Offing, Split Lip Magazine, Electric Lit, and elsewhere. More at www.cavar.club, librarycard.substack.com, and @cavarsarah on twitter.