Dry Heart by Jessica Mehta

After pounding down salmon, skin,

bones and all, frozen 

whey powder creams that stuck 
like chalk to my teeth, and icy

vitamin water, I’d slip

betwixt the old Asian women buzzing naked

between stalls. Slump into the sauna

and let the heat suck me hell dry. Smooth

those goosey forearms, stop

my core shaking with the door’s snap.

I carried

that heat with me. Through the spin classes,

the yoga, the long rides back home. Into the night,

into your arms, warm up the bed 
like a firecracker from the inside 
out. Even now

that my ribs don’t jump

out like a puppet show 

and my hair’s growing back,

I carry that heat within me. It exudes

like an aura, angry red and lovey

pink. Does it matter

that I stole it? That it’s imitation, 

if it’s cheap and stifling—No,

because as am I. Like the heat,

so am I.

Jessica (Tyner) Mehta (she/her or they/their) is a multi-award-winning Aniyunwiya Two-Spirit, queer interdisciplinary author and artist. Born and raised in so-called Oregon and a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, space, place, and ancestry inform her work. She is currently preparing for her Fulbright U.S. Scholar award in Bangalore, India as well as her Ucross residency in Wyoming where she is serving as the 2021 autumn Native American visual artist in residence. She is currently serving as the poet in residence at Hugo House, Seattle, and is the post-graduate research representative at the Centre for Victorian Studies in Exeter, England. She can be found @thischerokeerose. Cover art is the other half of “Mixed” by Nazrene Alsiro.