Seattle-based poet Anastacia-Reneé.
once the acupuncturist with
needles in her teeth told me
my qi was low & leaving
to the low & leaving qi
i guess—you are no better
than my father deciding
to split from the thing you
founded from the thing on
which you gave life
to the father who spent my
whole life low & leaving what
an unbalanced body you
tipped what a soul sucking
man still poking holes in
head
Anastacia-Reneé served as the Seattle Civic Poet from 2017 to 2019 and was the recipient of the 2018 James W Ray Distinguished Artist Award for Washington artists. A two-time Pushcart nominee, she is the author of five books of poetry.
