New Writing

Cedar Sigo

O Fantasma


I have to unbutton
Both sleeves then think of who
For my execution witness list

Who cares? What is this
Pouring in? These cakes of ice
I mind are sharp enough

So is the current so I only
Compose compose and compose
On a river less ancient then this

I own this temple
Its passages close
When I am not there

I stand outside
Of my dark past
And applaud for hours

I once rhymed start
To start and us to us
In the bath and everything

And with a razor
Fucking right back. There is a last
Sentence coming over

The loud speaker,
Before you leave place your
loved ones into the canon.

I choose John Huston,
The Enchanted Flood, and Fun
In a Chinese Laundry

The closer to earth
The deeper the pink
And I am without my love

Thoughtfulness now
Behind a bruised mouth
And behind eyes, Why

Do you hold your
Lips that way? Because
I know it looks adorable

To be sleepless and circling
a make-up counter
I recite the lines remembered

Skeletons before a dried up spring
Black as the mirror is
Under my hand the pyramids arose

Recite the lines
Let them die down
and into the ruins


At night I will return to be seen
I used to love this sweatshop
The black pearl is set

into my mouth so I die
with a jaw line like this,
Promise me. It's alright

To cut up the early work before.
It was politely romanticized
And never done to death.

Cedar Sigo will read at SPT on April 6, 2002, as part of Coordinates 2002: Indigenous Writing Now.