Lippy Eczema
by Isabel Brown
Isabel L. Brown is an 18 year old poet. She attends the North East of School of the Arts as a creative writing major. She has been featured in several online publications, including The Bunker Review. She has won and has been chosen to perform her poetry at the San Antonio Museum of Art and McNay Museum in light of their ekphrastic poetry competitions. She also performed an original short story for Texas Public Radio (TPR) "Worth Repeating" series, and was the youngest storyteller at the occasion. Isabel was invited to perform her original poetry at the Viva Poesia Festival for the City of San Antonio. Isabel was accepted by the Interlochen School of the Arts as a boarding student for her senior year. As of recently, she was a part of the “Poetry with Purpose” cause, a charity event advocating for the power of spoken word and donating funds for Acts of Hope.
The church was not
A single sanctuary,
But the entire neighborhood.
Hundreds of bricks
Lay as God’s bone
And the children’s
Reckless papercuts
Revive survivors (in several names)
For several milliseconds.
My lips itch from lying
About where I seek religion-:
Not at the monk’s apartment
Not at my ancestral grave
Not at an Aztec dinner,
But by where the
Ducks bathe.
Where do you seek blood?
Within the walls of mandarins?
In front of a priest?
In Sudanese desserts-
Where cocoa pours
Between your finger cracks?
Show a prophet where
You seek amnesty
And he shall expose
Where ichor of your kind
Is spilled.
My lips itch from lying
About where I seek religion-:
Perhaps I don’t have to
Worship a thing
Except for the ducks bathing
In order to be spiritually fulfilled.
