victuals and victim do not share a Latin root
by Matthew E. Henry
front to back to side to side to back to front they stand stacked naked pressed together meat in a loafing pan leg arm head sinew grizzle fat muscle the yeasty rising of anguish piles bodies atop grim shoulders faces carved to indistinction soon upended on a shore served on a wooden platform serrated from each other themselves divided until the rapacious diners have had their fill of red.
After Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller’s Slave Ship, wax, 1954
Matthew E. Henry (MEH) is the author of six poetry collections, most recently said the Frog to the scorpion (Harbor Editions, 2024). He is editor-in-chief of The Weight Journal, the CNF editor at Porcupine Literary, and an associate editor at Rise Up Review. MEH’s poetry and prose has been published in Anti-Heroin Chic, ASP Bulletin, Had, Massachusetts Review, Mayday, Ploughshares, Redivider, Shenandoah, Terrain, Whale Road Review, and The Worcester Review, among others. MEH is a high school educator who received his MFA yet continued to spend money he didn’t have completing an MA in theology and a PhD in education. You can find him at www.MEHPoeting.com and @mehpoeting.bsky.social writing about education, race, religion, and burning oppressive systems to the ground.
Detail of photograph of Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller’s Slave Ship (wax, 1954) taken by Matthew E. Henry. Click the image to enlarge.