momoy

Julian Talamantez Brolaski

momoy: Chumash word for the datura plant, Datura wrightii


among the grander spirits 

datura nosed the fiddle 

one inch closer to the cloud

upon which the player

—in its guise

as sparrow—reposed

and upon the call of which—

w/ its white throat warbling

we raised the binos to our eyes 

and not the other way around

music’s poltergeist

traipsed and spun

the cello was coaxed from its hutch

the beat did not so much

arrive to our ears as

emanate from our bones

divine

mystery they called it.

freckled cowslip.

peach whose seed

undid the tongue

which is now an animal

loosed upon the golden streets

Julian Talamantez Brolaski (it/xe/them), a poet and country musician, is the author of Of Mongrelitude, Advice for Lovers, and gowanus atropolis.
Originally published:
March 11, 2025

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