John Manuel Arias
¡THAN CALL BRAD FOR HELP!

to ease the                  tension

Ammit picks    her teeth with

a quetzal feather   from your

mother’s hair      and politely

asks your name        there’s a

pause                    because no

one’s told              you yet but

even if                someone had

even if your            lovers had

learned how to      pronounce

its                      desperateness

or its                          delicious

crevices that            swallowed

whole                 whatever was

left for them           to swallow

they’d                     never have

had                            the balls

to                                  utter it

John Manuel Arias is a gay Costa Rican/Uruguayan poet and crepe-maker who was raised in a DC ghetto when it was the murder capital. His poems have appeared in Red Paint Hill, The James Franco Review, and others, and will soon appear in upcoming issues of The Journal and Assaracus. He currently lives in San José, Costa Rica with his grandmother and five ghosts. His debut poetry collection, I’d Rather Sink, will be published in 2017 by Red Paint Hill.

Read more from Cleaver Magazine’s Issue #15.