Steffan Triplett
Dear Mr. Officer
(using the lyrics of “Look Alive” by Rae Sremmurd)
to us Boy look alive
like diamonds
he stay moonwalkin
in the light
a royal mane he so far out
in his smooth
no he not out here to rumble
he just out here to be--
but your lights turn
the night
& you just need a criminal
hands up if
you can promise
you see no target
hands up when you
promise you
look at Boy &
see light pour out
see he just want to kick back
& you just want to spree
but you grab a big one
& Boy get lit from toe to ceiling
sounds like you get three strikes
all before breakfast
see to it that judge will rock you
like a baby
(using the lyrics of “Look Alive” by Rae Sremmurd)
to us Boy look alive
like diamonds
he stay moonwalkin
in the light
a royal mane he so far out
in his smooth
no he not out here to rumble
he just out here to be--
but your lights turn
the night
& you just need a criminal
hands up if
you can promise
you see no target
hands up when you
promise you
look at Boy &
see light pour out
see he just want to kick back
& you just want to spree
but you grab a big one
& Boy get lit from toe to ceiling
sounds like you get three strikes
all before breakfast
see to it that judge will rock you
like a baby
Wiz Boy
i think there is a boy here
who wants to be allowed.
to be angry and free is a crime
in the countryside, in a castle
where we’ll never win the cup.
i’m not your hufflepuff, boy
this hair ain’t no fur, this
blood and i ain’t so warm as we look.
i’ve got a slickened tongue and scales
cologned of sweat and bottled firecracker smoke.
i made the sorting cap shiver with my
head only, and mind what I do on a broom.
i took a prefect to bed the other evening,
afterhours he quilled me love letters;
chocolate flowers in the dungeon.
see i’m a wiz boy, i’m black and
black and greening.
i dream my boggarts live outside their closets,
of a sectum sempra so damp and red,
and how everyone in the room is afraid of me.
i think there is a boy here
who wants to be allowed.
to be angry and free is a crime
in the countryside, in a castle
where we’ll never win the cup.
i’m not your hufflepuff, boy
this hair ain’t no fur, this
blood and i ain’t so warm as we look.
i’ve got a slickened tongue and scales
cologned of sweat and bottled firecracker smoke.
i made the sorting cap shiver with my
head only, and mind what I do on a broom.
i took a prefect to bed the other evening,
afterhours he quilled me love letters;
chocolate flowers in the dungeon.
see i’m a wiz boy, i’m black and
black and greening.
i dream my boggarts live outside their closets,
of a sectum sempra so damp and red,
and how everyone in the room is afraid of me.
To Kevin, Or Maybe You’re Reading the Movie Wrong
(after Moonlight)
a black boy in the ocean
will drown if you let him
he’s always a boy & little
& wishing to be held by
the waves & stopped by
the breeze that’s clarity
you & him on the shore
you made you feel like the
only movie he’s ever seen
(after Moonlight)
a black boy in the ocean
will drown if you let him
he’s always a boy & little
& wishing to be held by
the waves & stopped by
the breeze that’s clarity
you & him on the shore
you made you feel like the
only movie he’s ever seen
Back at One
(an erasure)
it’s how I used to say
the basis is,
for all things,
time.
it’s emotional once you know
it’s undesirable
for us
to dream.
two—one and one
in love with fever--
say farewell to the dark
little child whose life
breathed out
in time.
like a dream on repeat, you
fall
in love
with the start.
(an erasure)
it’s how I used to say
the basis is,
for all things,
time.
it’s emotional once you know
it’s undesirable
for us
to dream.
two—one and one
in love with fever--
say farewell to the dark
little child whose life
breathed out
in time.
like a dream on repeat, you
fall
in love
with the start.
Steffan Triplett is an MFA candidate and instructor at the University of Pittsburgh. Steffan is an editor for the literary magazine Hot Metal Bridge, and his work appears or is forthcoming in The Offing, BOAAT, Wildness, The Shade Journal, and elsewhere. More of his erasures appear in pnk prl and Beecher's. Steffan is a Callaloo and Lambda Literary fellow, and a VONA alum. Follow him on Twitter @SteffanTriplett.
