spell to name the spell
after Natalie Diaz

let me call my anxiety, the still before the breath that begins it all
let me call this coming poem, a spell
          to finally send my life in motion through my limbs

let my lips speak my words now;
            tease new lips before my tongue teases them further;
                       semicolon the most erotic lean between singing lips
                       pull the crave from the cells that need it most;
                                   i burn the quiet into this moment,
                                              lightning trails for future music

Phil SaintDenisSanchez is a Creole poet from New Orleans and his debut collection, before & after our bodies, is out now with Button Poetry. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in Best New Poets, The Adroit Journal, Poetry International, Tinderbox Poetry Journal, and elsewhere. His poem “monarchs are the communication medium for when i die” was a finalist for Poetry International’s C.P. Cavafy Prize and his chapbook “watch out for falling bullets” was a finalist for The Atlas Review’s and Button Poetry’s chapbook contests, and a notable manuscript for BOAAT’s chapbook contest. A semifinalist for the 2020 Discovery Prize, he has received scholarships to attend Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and presented at AWP on creating collaborations between poetry and music. An MFA candidate in Creative Writing at NYU, he studied music theory and composition at The City College of New York, records under the name SaintDenisSanchez, currently lives in Brooklyn.