After the Invasion

By Joanne Lowery

When they came to us via a physics
we do not yet understand, their matter
would not join us at the United Nations
to discuss life forms. Bored by our brains,
they lodged in our throats, refused scalpel
and coaxing, left us bottle-necked
drowning in our selfsame spit.
Their thoughts became our words,
only we could not speak them
nor hear such ultra frequencies,
yet their invasion was hardly what
I would call silence. Words
unspoken travel through flesh and bone.
My neck garroted, my toes ballooned,
this poem oozed from a blister.

Joanne Lowery's poems have appeared in many literary magazines, including Birmingham Poetry Review, Rattle, Slant, Cottonwood, and Poetry East. Her most recent collection is the chapbook Scything published by FutureCycle Press. She lives in Michigan.

 

All content © The Coachella Review