Two poems by Cheryl Dumesnil

//Two poems by Cheryl Dumesnil

Two poems by Cheryl Dumesnil

Bible Study

Truly I tell you,

The life expectancy

whatever you do

for transgender women of color

for these sisters of mine,

living in the United States

that you do unto me.

is thirty-one years old.

Matthew 25:40

What You Must Believe

As a mound of dust and a mouthful of spit
is to a brick,

as that one spit-and-dust brick
is to a wall

is to a shelter for a family
fed by one pot

hung over a fire tended all day
and all night, too—

my love, this
is how you will survive—

as a spoon scraping concrete
is to escape—

no matter what they do
to break you.


Cheryl Dumesnil is the author of two books of poetry, Showtime at the Ministry of Lost Causes and In Praise of Falling (University of Pittsburgh Press), and a memoir, Love Song for Baby X (Ig Publishing). A freelance writer and writing coach, she lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her wife and two kids. Read more about Cheryl here.

Photo credit: Francisco Gonzalez via a Creative Commons license.

By | 2020-02-05T21:55:52-08:00 February 6th, 2020|Categories: Issue 103: 06 February 2020|Tags: , , |2 Comments

2 Comments

  1. JAY M MOWER Mower 2020-02-06 at 10:01 am

    Bible study poem–I have rarely seen a unique format poem work as effectively. Really drives home the message

  2. Abby E Murray 2020-02-06 at 8:40 am

    Love these. So glad to see this voice raised.

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