9/30 (This World, This Wound) (April 9th)
Sean Avery Medlin
triple
x images
folded beneath my bed
around age twelve. blame this foul world
for showing me my worth
is both my girth
and length.
a friend
in grade school told
me about these websites
where women bared their bare bodies
for countless videos:
free and deadly
viewing.
there’s much
this small poem
can’t reveal: an assault
at age eight, a family secret
of pithole addictions;
how normal this
wound is.
Sean Avery Medlin (he/they) is a poet, rapper, and essayist. Their art questions the limitations of Black masculinity, media diversity, and personal narrative. Medlin has been featured in Phoenix New Times, Chicago Tribune and Teen Vogue. They are the author of 808s & Otherworlds: Memories, Remixes, & Mythologies (Two Dollar Radio, 2021) a collection of essays and poetry, available in print, digital, and audio.
Photo credit Ghazal Hessami @ghazalhessamii