Blackbird Archive
← v13n1, Spring 2014
Poetry · Volume 13, Number 1

Honey,

Matthew Hotham

I feel heavy.

The strings of this ground

have noosed my murmuring heart.

My nose is compressed.

I haven’t breathed right in nights—

feel the slow suffocation

of air running from my lungs.

Give me some space,

turn on the fan so I can feel the air.

No, hold me closer—

smother me to sleep.

lovedesirebody
Matthew Hotham

Matthew Hotham is the author of the chapbook Early Art (Turtle Ink Press, 2006). His poetry has appeared in Salt Hill , Meridian , Copper Nickel , Third Coast , 32 Poems , and Harpur Palate , among others. He is a graduate student in the Department of Religious Studies at UNC–Chapel Hill and editor-in-chief of The Carolina Quarterly . Photo by Asia Morris, 2010