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Exiled, I found citizenship
in the republic of my body—
that ravaged landscape I navigate
by heart. And it’s easy, becoming
what’s yours. Can’t say I know
why Adam asked for another—

my Lord lies

between my thighs, and each morning
I curl to meet my maker’s lips.
I pray faithfully in the cathedral
of raised legs, my hair haloed by sunlight,
as I bow deeper, eager to receive

His blessing.

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Born in Saigon, Vietnam, OCEAN VUONG is the author of the chapbook Burnings (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2010) and is currently an undergraduate at Brooklyn College, CUNY. His poems have received an Academy of American Poets Prize, the Connecticut Poetry Society’s Al Savard Award, as well as four Pushcart Prize nominations. Poems appear in RHINO, diode, Lantern Review, Softblow, Crate, and PANK, among others. Work has also been translated into Hindi, Korean, Vietnamese, and Russian. He lives in Brooklyn and is an avid supporter of animal rights and veganism.

One response to “Self-fellatio as prayer

  1. dwoz says:

    a vegan auto-fellationist? is such a thing even possible? Wouldn’t that cause a black hole to spring into existence and swallow up manhattan?

    Is this metaphor so obvious that it will make Hoboken angry?

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