It is that kind of summer when all your fucks and waste and wading hang out and you are being swallowed half way and sucked on the rest you are returning spit and there is a quilt that don’t get as dark as the black comforter your mama threw away there are shared jars of pickles and you are trying not to kick the part of your childhood that made it bearable curled up at your feet you are finally roaming around neighborhoods your nana warned you about and finding things she was afraid would make you hold your breath too long let the laughter out so some air can get in
baby
trash music summer Lloyd attempts a comeback and you yearn you build a shrine out of getting to your aunt’s house the next major street over and sometimes settling in the bed in your nana’s den it is a too-hot-to-be-alone summer one where it unfurls your hands and you visit used bookstores with your mama which you never thought she would do and your relationship is not how it was when you were 4 and best friends but she is with you in the shit and no one else could be this still and such a paragon of peace.
Jalayna Carter primarily works in Seattle, WA as a storyteller in nonprofit communications and moonlights as a poet. She’s had pieces published in a handful of journals including Third Point Press, Reality Beach, and an Anthology by 2Leaf Press: “Black Lives Have Always Mattered” with a forthcoming piece by Puerto Del Sol. She performs her poetry live occasionally and recently was accepted into the Jack Straw Writers Program in Seattle, WA. Originally from St. Louis, MO, she studied literature and journalism in the midwest. Some of her favorite experiences have been researching Nikki Giovanni’s influence on and experiences within the Black Arts Movement through the lens of Poetry of Witness, living on a secluded ranch in Montana for a few months and finding out that her mother once went to Tijuana, Mexico at the same age that Jalayna did – both without telling their mothers. You can find her on IG (@just.jalayna) and Twitter (@just_jalayna) and check out more of her work at www.JalaynaCarter.com.