Michael Wasson’s poems appear in American Poets, Narrative, Prairie Schooner, Passages North, and Bettering American Poetry 2015. He is nimíipuu from the Nez Perce Reservation and lives abroad.
ANT & YELLOW JACKET
pamc’itpáaswisana, kawó ’iceyéeyenm qepsqepsnéewitki
kaa hináashanya píswe.
Reach for
the dark hook
in my mouth:
bright hunger
a pulse between
us: & here
at the chest
a bee’s heart
pressing an ant’s
caged ribs before
collapsing. Who
said the body
would break
quite like this
that the face
could seal
another’s? Feel
how alive
your skin is
how these lips
tighten yours:
when does
the breath finally
vanish as both
our bodies erupt
into a single
mouthed arch
of basalt?