tyranny
Written by Wade R. DeYoung
After Danez Smith’s “my bitch!”
physics’ tyranny. harsh limits.
photons squeezed by nature.
earth’s tyranny.
hellish winds. electrons sizzling through storm-strewn skies.
magma seething from fissures. cloud-borne deluges,
sea-borne deluges. ice-storms, fire-storms.
biology’s tyranny. mosquitoes, kissing bugs,
fleas, ticks, black flies, tse-tse flies.
tiny flying, crawling, climbing, jumping vampires,
hypodermic needles of death.
chromosomes’ tyranny. birth defects.
thinking meat machines doomed by
two dates on a headstone.
xx & xy. do these letters define me?
language’s tyranny. steel-girded words.
he, she. can’t i be a martian or
a buick skylark, if i wish?
Other Works by Wade R. DeYoung Published by
Diagonals Literary Festival
About the Author
Wade R. DeYoung was born and raised in Michigan. After 28 years, he retired from the U.S. Army as a captain and served as an aircraft armament mechanic, a recruiter, an environmental science officer, and an entomologist. He has a B.A. in English (creative writing track) from the University of Central Florida (2025), an M.S. in public health (medical zoology track) from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (2015), and a B.S. in zoology from Michigan State University (1991). He has written numerous poems, short stories, and one novel. His poems have been published in 100subtexts, Fae Corps Inc Newsletter, Bewildering Stories, Children, Churches and Daddies (Scars Publications), and Diagonals Literary Festival.
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