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Jeremy T. Karn

This Is How You Know You're a Stutterer

​you’ll feel its beginning,
                              in the deepness
of your mouth like thorns nailed in the flesh
wounds growing in the back of your throat
like cobwebs
                              that hang from there to here
 
it will make your mouth taste like silence,
                              smell like the graveyard
your grandfather was buried in
 
& sometimes,
                              you’ll feel dislocated from your body
like those giggles
that are now  lost in your childhood’s songs   
 
you’ll learn how some words swim
                              ​away from beneath your tongue
& clog themselves in your veins,
then you will take forever to have faith in your tongue

Biography

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​Jeremy T. Karn (he/him) writes from somewhere in Liberia. His work has appeared in 20.35: Contemporary African Poets Volume III Anthology, The Whale Road Review, The Rising Phoenix, Kalahari Review, African Writers,  Praxis Online, Shallow Tales Review and elsewhere. His chapbook Miryam Magdalit has been selected by Kwame Dawes and Chris Abani (The African Poetry Book Fund), in collaboration with Akashic Books, for the 2021 New-Generation African Poets chapbook box set. He tweets @jeremy_karn96
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  • Home
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  • Issues
    • Issue 49
    • Issue 48
    • Issue 47
    • Issue 46
    • Issue 45
    • Issue 44
    • Issue 43
    • Issue 42
    • Issue 41
    • Issue 40
    • Issue 39
    • Issue 38
    • Issue 37
    • Issue 36
    • Issue 35
    • Issue 34
    • Issue 33
    • Issue 32
    • Issue 31
    • Issue 30
    • Issue 29
    • Issue 28
    • Issue 27
    • Issue 26
    • Issue 25
    • Issue 24
    • Issue 23
    • Issue 22
    • Issue 21
    • Issue 20
    • Issue 19
    • Issue 18
    • Serenity
    • Issue 17
    • The Audio Room
    • Issue 16
    • Issue 15
    • Issue 14
    • Play It Again
    • Issue 13
    • Issue 12
    • Issue 11
    • Issue 10
    • Issue 9
    • Issue 8
    • Issue 7
    • Issue 6
    • Hand to Mouth
    • Issue 5
    • Issue 4
    • Issue 3
    • Issue 2
    • Issue 1
  • Submissions