82. Respiratory System
—a poem by Joseph Osel

as 
a precursor
a people
chamber the clefts
the apertures
the walls of
young gills
the primitive form
decomposed or burned
an unweaned child
taken into the lungs
then expelled
as man


_
Joseph Osel is a critical theorist, poet and Editor of Imperative Papers. Forthcoming books include Catastrophe-In-Miniature: Poetry in Fatal Tense (2017), Savannas (2018) and Revolutionary-Antiracism (2018).Access his complete bibliography-prospectus.