a selection of poems from nakayla monét's master thesis collection:
storks over lavender fields eating pomegranate seeds

cross
laid out arms
perpendicular
to trunk and legs,
a mesh halo
tops my head;
akin to jesus
on the cross;

do i meet god here?
the light above,
bright, blinding.
a blue tarp the only barrier,
between the living,
and those
who have yet to live.

dilaudid, slows
my heart and breath.
lips numb from
puncture wounds
to the spine.

orange belly, when sliced
holy waters spills
from seven layers deep.
their genesis,
my beginning.
curses made to be
broken, god take these
seeds as tokens.

they will walk
in your light, brighter
than the sun, that
warmed their freshly
birthed bodies.

cleansed of sins,
as my body is
stretched,
in the same way,
you gave your
only son.