Intake in the Ward

Intake in the Ward Jamaal May (bio) Said he never saw that shit coming. A knotrose like a knuckle out of his hair. The guitaristtold me he lost his fender to the seaof sweaty elbows when he unplugged itand dove into the mosh pit’s crash. After the intake he admits he sold the stratand amp and stomp boxes for booze and food,ate alone, pushed away from the plate,with its tongue-shaped ketchup smears,and went directly to an orgy. Said his grief needed a stage that fit:a soundtrack of strangers fuckingand forgetting. It’s easier than you think,he says, to get invited to one.When I told him I didn’t need to know this for the intake, he rolled up his shirt,exposed the bruise-smeared surface,and asked if I needed to know which he took,which were given, which were paid for,and what imperfections had cost him the most. [End Page 77] Jamaal May JAMAAL MAY is a poet and editor from Detroit, MI. His first book, Hum (Alice James Books), received the Beatrice Hawley Award, the American Library Association’s Notable Book Award, and an NAACP Image Award nomination. Other honors include the Indiana Review Prize, the Spirit of Detroit Award, and the Stadler Fellowship. Most recently, Jamaal has been awarded Rose O’Neill Literary House’s 2014 Cave Canem Residency, the 2014–2016 Kenyon Review Fellowship, and a Civitella Ranieri Fellowship in Italy. Jamaal’s poems appear in such publications as The New Republic, The Believer, Poetry, Ploughshares, NYTimes.com, and Best American Poetry 2014. With Tarfia Faizullah, he co-directs the Organic Weapon Arts Chapbook and Video Series. Copyright © 2015 The Johns Hopkins University Press

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