Two Poems / by Candace Holmes


florida’s first active volcano
 

chelsea is getting Sad again
florida is too heavy breathing
is wading into the ocean
with your jeans still on

i am liberated ligaments learning
the discomfort of new showers
learning canals grafting my own
skin to different parts of me

comfort can slowly kill
you chelsea cries in florida
i touch my cheek but i can’t feel
if it’s actually wet or just cold

the only difference between
crying and breathing fire is
The Elements chelsea you are
florida’s first active volcano

 

 

 

 

i’m uglier in europe
 

everywhere a moon pulls blood from me
alters my shorelines like pages of books
humans wrinkle when wet if we are all

bodies of water
i am a puddle
i’m smaller in holland

i collect traits from people i love bats
flying into my ribs through cracked panes
i masturbate with the window open the moon

howls at me
i am a stranger
i’m uglier in europe

 

 

 

Candace Holmes is currently based out of Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Some of her previous work can be found in Fruita Pulp, Reality Hands, What Kind of Trouble?, and Electric Cereal. She hates the smell of freshly-mown grass and wants to remind you to stay hydrated.