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Vise of Love

By Sonia Di Placido
                          after Basquiat
should it fall out
                         some screw
should it loosen
               what would be left
to make it work?
                         chew or gnaw
in place of the regular opening
between the sharp metal clamp
and the object of their affection
                         held       strong  
the sigh and the saliva of love
seeps out like a dirtied used up oil
keeps us tightly wound and warm
well put together

Enter, Amuse

By Sonia Di Placido
my key is turned from its lock
I am waiting for God, not You
entering in a leathery epidermis
doubled skin—the yellow-beige
jacket hiding methanol in vein
You told me it was a trick from
the crow on the other side of town.
These are countable lies— 
why do we do it?
What’s not good for us is spreading
everywhere but the bed.
This is not I who enters
here is another I— summoned

Once, I had a friend whose name

was Aphrodite

By Sonia Di Placido
All ready to drown in some body’s fresh lake
I dive to the bottom of slippery rocks and strange sand,
my blame
 
what hasn’t been rescued from this personality’s pit?
weighted, all of it, I have held my breath for you, friend
 
I kicked into our waters breathless because
I gave you the greater service, I listened
 
to your voice, let in the ‘troia’
weighted, all of it, I have held for you, friend
 
become the torn-wise woman who was
supposed to win over the whims of a dick
 
sweating in heat. Standing at the bluffs
weighted, all of it, I have held for you, friend
 
O Goddess, what have your lovers brought?
the forward walk of aging feet, my waning
 
away from your beauty, once singing at us
blending voices, the lusts we thought— 

these are mine to hold.

Weedling

By Sonia Di Placido
I am the finite vestibule
 
having eaten my seed head
 
releasing exhaustion
 
flowering for Spring
 
my children blow
 
what is left of me
 
the veins of milky way
 
my head weightless
 
my seeded presence a disease
 
to the blade that cuts me
 
dandelion weed grow
 
stem and stain
 
I have my own way of cheating
 
every body does


Sonia Di Placido is a poet, writer and editor. Her works have been published in Jacket2, Canthius, Minola Review, Juniper, The Puritan, White Wall Review, Carousel and The California Journal of Women Writers. She is currently working on her MFA in Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia. She works part-time as a sessional instructor of English for Academic Purposes at George Brown College. In September 2016, she attended The China Writers' Association International Residency for the cities of Tianjin, Binhai, and Beijing. Exaltation in Cadmium Red was published with Guernica Editions in 2012, and Flesh launched in Autumn 2018. Reviews of Flesh can be found in The Temz Review and Quill and Quire. For more information: diplacido.wordpress.com
Send inquiries to thetemzreview[at]gmail[dot]com
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