‘[My Body Is an American]’ by p.e. garcia

my body is an american
minotaur, half-formed mistake stuck
in the bowels of your imagination

This week’s poem is by p.e. garcia, recently published in Hobart Pulp. ‘[my body is an american]’ highlights the dichotomy between the American identity and its reality. The poem, through the lens of definition, of defining the self and identity, examines the American dream, and the distance between the ideals and how far it falls in practice.

my body is
an american;
a divine accident, a Ford wrecked,
spraying blood across the Midwest

The poem displaces classically American imagery with a sense of subcutaneous discomfort, the rifts beneath the surface image peeking through. Recentralizing the overlap between immigrant and American identity, Garcia paints a contemporary image of America without filler or excess, a steady gaze at where we are right now.

i have tried to be re-
& shed my skin
but every word i speak
is laced with baseball
jazz & apple pie idols

Hobart