A Gathering of the Tribes

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Edwin Torres

your ruse for bone

what body has never been shared
and then I feel the drop of that sharing
what verb does out of done
and then I see the someone
trying to figure my stance 

and there you have a through-line
what might be lineage
to add weight to something 
so linear seems internally 
untelligent

as though connection 
has a ways to go before discovering 
how useful to recommend itself
if that isn't non-linearity
I don't know gristle 

from tomb of unknown sun
and then how you place your world 
is what you let in 
to not claim your springing from 
as your awake

how kids drop things 
and parents pick them up and then you know
drop them again in the same way 
what we call gravity as
the getting up again

Edwin Torres (Nuyoricua, USA) is a lingualisualist, rooted in the languages of sight and sound. His books of poetry include, The Animal's Perception of Earth (DoubleCross Press), Xoeteox: the infinite word object (Wave Books), Ameriscopia (University of Arizona Press), and editor of the inter-genre anthology, The Body In Language: An Anthology (Counterpath Press). He has improvised with many artists and performed his multi-disciplinary bodylingo poetics worldwide. His audio work can be found online at PennSound, Ubuweb, and Pamenar (pamenarpress.com/online-magazine) where he has a recorded improvisation with the sound artist Stephen Vitiello. He has received fellowships from The Foundation for Contemporary Art, NYFA, The DIA Arts Foundation, and The Poetry Fund, among others. Anthologies include Manifold Criticism, Fractured Ecologies, American Poets In The 21st Century: Poetics of Social Engagement, Kindergarde: Avant Garde Poems For Children, and Aloud: Voices From The Nuyorican Poets Café. His next book, Quanundrum is forthcoming from Roof Books in 2021.