Aftermath

Mateo Perez Lara

Poetry

2/1/24

And when you harm another you devolve you gain momentum, you become

You salt a circle around the wound you salt a circle around the wound you salt a circle around the wound you circle salt become the wound you wound the circle become the salt you are the salt in the wound you are the wound and the salt and the circle you are

the salt you
are the
wound you
are the
circling

Mateo Perez Lara is a queer, non-binary, Latine poet from California. They received their M.F.A. in Poetry from Randolph College. They have a chapbook, Glitter Gods, published with Thirty West Publishing House. Their poems have been published in EOAGH, The Maine Review, and elsewhere. | @KillerEmm