By: Jasmine Ledesma
1970s Horror Movie
loser gut / loser limp / loser slow / loser inhale
loser bones / loser ache / loser bad dreams
loser shorts / loser dry / loser back
loser knife /
Loser basement / loser white / loser dust
Loser new / loser blood / loser / blood
loser run / loser laugh / loser keep / loser trophy
loser catch / loser moonlight
loser beautiful
Girls Night Out
I’ve got my plastic gun earrings on.
I’m ready for the monologue and heave.
You’re drenched in glow like you’ve
got something to steal.
We are cowboys in therapy.
We’ve got our hands around glass.
This city is a burning hill.
Lights are hanging down like meat
in the shop window.
Baby, let me tell you about your
very own muscles.
They look like pink harp strings.
You play such lovely music.
Look at us, wading in the taxi.
Writing poems on the window
in the fog that comes after breath.
I spell out I’ve Always Hated Ur
Father with my finger
but by the time you look, all
you can see is Ur Father.
Turn the song up, sir.
I promise I’ll give you what
you deserve.
Self Portrait With Canned Corn
My body looks expensive in this light.
It’s almost too much.
So I am alone in my bursting, after all.
The moon hangs above Hollywood.
Can’t care about my slurring.
I am not so famous.
I am holding up.
I know when I am stepping on a crack.
The world is a subway car.
Dopamine and weirdos.
Gloves and awakenings.
A selfie in the blade of a knife.
Smile real pretty.
I thirst! I ache! I hustle! I buzz!
I vampire and buckle!
I just want someone
to talk to me.
Jasmine Ledesma is a sophomore at Marymount Manhattan College in New York City's tender heart. Her work has appeared in the Accolades 2014 Poetry Collection, Freedom Whispers and The Carson Review, Typishly and Not Very Quiet. She was selected as Poet of The Week by Poetry Highway.
Interview With The Poet:
Cathexis Northwest Press:
How long have you been writing poetry?
Jasmine Ledesma:
Two seconds.
CNP:
Can you remember the first poem you read that made you fall in love with poetry?
JL:
My senior year of high school, when I was all freshly traumatized and depressed, I read Lesbos by Sylvia Plath and obsessed over it. I’d say it into the mirror.
CNP:
Who are your favorite poets? Any specific poems?
JL:
Right now my favorite poets include Sharon Olds, Richard Siken, Jeananne Verlee, Morgan Parker and Denis Johnson. They always know how to hit me the hardest.
CNP:
Can you share for us a little bit about your writing process? Any specific rituals that get you in
the zone?
JL:
I pick a word and let it fry my brain until there’s something on the paper. Lately, I write when everyone’s asleep. Into my notebook with cheap pink markers.
CNP:
How do you decide the form for your poems? Do you start writing with a form in mind, or do you let the poem tell you what it will look like as you go?
JL:
I have synesthesia so the process of writing feels involuntary to me. A phrase or word will burn itself into my head and I build onto that until I start to see the color or texture of the poem. I like to work with really sharp, pointed, bright primary colors.
CNP:
Any advice for poets who have yet to find their voice?
JL:
Read a ton of books. Stay away from social media while creating. Don’t be afraid of being weird.
CNP:
What is your editing process like?
JL:
My editing process includes rewriting poems until I feel like I’ve worked through a certain emotion. It can feel like therapy.
CNP:
When do you know that a poem is finished?
JL:
When I can’t look at it anymore.
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