A Poem by Daniel Turell
Author: Poetry Editor
March 20, 2018
This month, as a part of the Poetry Coalition’s new initiative Where My Dreaming and My Loving Live, the Lambda Literary Poetry Spotlight will feature poems of and about the body. This week’s feature is by Daniel Turell.
TAXONOMY
“Homo sapiens is the only species to suffer psychological exile”
–E.O. Wilson
as Species as Sapiens
as Genus as Homo
as Family as Hominids
as Order as primates
that Torture that Abuse
that Assault that Sodomize
ask Men ask Race
ask Black ask Haitian
ask Louima, Abner
20 years later
as Class as Poor
as Phylum as Immigrant
as Kingdom as Animal
as Domain as Man
that kind Enforcer that Hates
that Crime that news Head(line)
TORTURED BY COPS
ask Law ask Police
ask NYPD ask Detective
ask Volpe, Justin A.,
holding the broken broomstick
——
