Two Poems | Sophia Tempest Parsons

scetes

I am filled with an all-consuming desire

to wander naked through a desert and talk to god

for no less than forty days

this desire will surely rid myself of all my other desires

I will learn to chant in Greek

neither eat nor drink befriend a

bear like a regular Saint

Seraphim if there are no bears in

the desert I will summon them

I will grow my hair out long so that

when I meet the right man I can

wash his feet with it

my only fear is that

my body is not

capable of purifying

anything

when i get to heaven

EVERYTHING THAT HAS EVER HAPPENED LASTS FOREVER / WHEN I GET TO HEAVEN I’M GOING TO SINK MY TEETH IN / WHEN I GET TO HEAVEN I’M GETTING IN THE FETAL POSITION AND CRYING UNDER THE BATHROOM SINK / WHEN I GET TO HEAVEN I’M GOING TO ASK MY MOM TO BRAID MY HAIR / WHEN I GET TO HEAVEN I’M GOING TO MAKE GOD LOOK ME IN THE EYES / WHEN I GET TO HEAVEN I’M GOING TO SMASH THE TAPES

Sophia Tempest Parsons is a poet from Dallas, Texas who is currently lives in Brooklyn with an elderly cat. Her work has been featured in LESTE, Omega, Honey & Lime and others. Her first chapbook, A LAMB HANGS BY ITS OWN FOOT, came out with Ghost City Press in 2019. Tempest is her real middle name.

Twitter: @sophergrace