
Morgan Parker
WebsiteYears: 2012
Biography
Morgan Parker received her BA in Creative Writing and Anthropology from Columbia University and her MFA in poetry from NYU. Her work has been featured or is forthcoming in numerous publications, including Painted Bride Quarterly, PANK, Forklift, Ohio, Vinyl Poetry, and the anthology Why I Am Not A Painter, published by Argos Books. In 2013, she was a finalist for The Poetry Project's Emerge-Surface-Be Fellowship. A Cave Canem fellow, Morgan lives with her dog Braeburn in Brooklyn, where she is Education Director at the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts (MoCADA).
Poem
Morgan What, Morgan Who?
“Do not bark up that tree. That tree will fall on you.” –Jay-Z
Yes and I am
dreading the New Year
I say to my mother
on Christmas when she asks
if I am really
that bitter. I spit
at the nickname
you hand me—a kink
in vinyl where
needle sticks
and repeats between
my legs. Leaving my lips
you’re cheap liquor
lusty and sad
over my blueprint.
Peep all these inches
left un-bruised, crowned
with dried leaves
and spilling
out of my shirt.
I have an appetite, make
lightposts go down when you
call me baby. Baby, don’t
forget who’s quitting who,
who is harvested
and who sows.
Careful with that
face of yours: you know
this weather
is my fault.
Trains get lost, roads flood
worry and charcoal.
Motherfuckers
better duck.