Poems and Texts

“Three Women / Two Transfers and a Token / One Reincarnation” by Omotara James

Three Women / Two Transfers and a Token / One Reincarnation

(for Max Ritvo)

Lately,
flossing in the sink or
tweezing on the toilet

or hovering over the pregnant woman
I gave my seat to
when I haven’t been touched in months,

I stare into my reflection: into my mouth
towards the fleshy back        See life
evaporate into nothing—

a hole where there was ivory
once       and I sink like a cavity
into the soft tissue of time, as it is

proof of all we cannot repeat. Ecstatically,

a woman’s baby gurgles
above the engine and the heat. I shift
my eyes.   Open my mouth.   Make sounds.

Omotara James

Omotara James is a British-born American poet and essayist. The daughter of Nigerian and Trinidadian immigrants, she currently resides in NYC. She is the Third Place Winner of the 2017 Luminaire Award for Best Poetry, the recipient of Slice Literary’s 2016 Bridging the Gap Award for Emerging Poets, as well as the Nancy P. Schnader Academy of American Poets Award. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Winter Tangerine, Crab Fat Magazine: QTPOC issue, Cosmonauts Avenue, Luna Luna Magazine and elsewhere. She has received scholarships from Cave Canem and the Home School. Online, you can find her: @omotarajames and omotarajames.com

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