Call & Response

kindly throttle me

Call & Response
Photo by engin akyurt / Unsplash

by Jenna Jaco


If ever I should wink

at anything the way the glitter

that fell from your chest

winks at me from its resting

place in the middle of

the oldest rug I own,

kindly throttle me

starless somewhere close

to the home planet

of that chromey shifting speck

so I can unscream,

vacuum-harnessed, at

the gall and presumption

of whatever sloughed this

off and down to you,

the rug, and me.


Jenna Jaco (they/she) is a poet and technical writer from Texas. They are the author of Mall Water (Kith Books, 2024). She has had poems published in Ghost City Review, Peach Mag, Foglifter, and elsewhere, and writes unmarketable content at Cherub Microplastics.