How Man + Earth Was Created
by Lydia Knowles
How Man + Earth Was Created
​
1.
​
take flattened clay and a paintbrush –– the field is sweet, almost, empty
and bare. soft umber, smearings of yellow ochre to meet watered-down
cerulean blue. wheat ripe and thick, with gold, with sunshine.
take a field. make it Our’s. paint a man in the middle of it, a scar
where one of his ribs are. He doesn’t know where it’s gone. He doesn’t care.
sunlight shines on his skin, sunlight hides away from his skin, sunlight creates red patches.
Stings.
​
His head is full. scrambled and nonsensed and full. this is enough.
this should be enough. this needs to be enough. now He has the paintbrush.
tells himself I want to own this and gives himself a house. builds a fire
and tells himself I need to own this and now there are more men. more limbs, more
​
jaws that open and close.
More missing ribs. We belong here, said in harmony.
​
2.
​
what’s a home but a few neighborhoods.
what’s a neighborhood but a few suburbs.
what’s a suburb but a slew of cities?
Is that demolition I hear, or are you just happy to see me?
3.
​
the paintbrush is erased. or replaced. this changes every time we tell it.
these men with missing ribs break their bones for fun
and call themselves saviors. one says We’ll kill you another says Leave your own land.
these men swarm and take and break and ruin and destroy and never apologize.
I’m sorry is too foreign. I’m sorry is too strong of a way to take back what’s already happened.
​
4.
​
in 2017, the earth’s surface temperature was around 0.84 degrees warmer than the 20th century
average. we’ve destroyed so much we don’t know how to stop.
Why are we doing this? Because we can. Dig a hole. Make it better. Or worse. We don’t know
anymore.
we’d break our own arms to spread more, to turn each other on with
sweeter, bigger, brighter.
the world takes my hands and makes a waste out of me. or i make
a waste out of it. the story changes every time we tell it.
Fragments of in Which We Live Happily Ever After
by Lydia Knowles
Fragments of in Which We Live Happily Ever After
or, torn love letters given by two love birds in their youth
1.
​
here i am, wrinkled and weary, with nothing but fate
to keep my tendons / ligaments from slipping from their places.
there’s a crease where my eyes meet together
there’s a dent where a dimple used to relax
here we are, wrinkled and weary, with nothing but fate
to keep us from falling apart.
you take hold of my arm, fingers sliding into soft flesh,
and you say wait, it’s not your time yet.
and i thank you.
​
2.
​
if sweetness is supposed to temporary, then yours isn’t that. yours
tastes like raspberry sugar underneath my tongue, that goes in and
out with sweet – sour – sweet movements / I love you, you
told me, once, and it sounded like
it belonged in your mouth, from your throat, and nowhere else.
3.
​
Dearest Lover
My Lovely
Darling Beloved,
​
I love you. I love you. I love you. i cannot say it enough. it sounds beautiful
from my mouth.
spilling like gold.
I love you. I love you. I love you.
4.
​
here you are, wrinkled and weary, with nothing but fate
to keep your tendons / ligaments from slipping from their places.
there’s a crease where your nose squints when you’re cross.
there’s a small imprint where the feather – end of your makeup brush hits.
here we are, wrinkled and weary, with nothing but fate
to keep us from falling apart.
you take hold of my arm, fingers sliding into soft flesh,
and you say wait, it’s not your time yet.
​
and i thank you.
Lydia Knowles
Lydia Knowles is a poet and fiction writer from Atlanta, Georgia. They are currently a Sophomore at Agnes Scott college, where they study Philosophy and Africana Studies. Their written work has appeared in 30 North Literary Magazine, and they have self published a few of their pieces. Though writing is one of Lydia's many passions, they also enjoy making embroidered gifts for their friends.