Dear Unknown Ancestor Naked in the Woods by Danielle Eleanor La Valle after Chris Kads | One Poem After

One Poem Only is a daily poetry podcast offering a quiet moment with a single poem—read aloud, without analysis or noise. Today's poem is: Dear Unknown Ancestor Naked in the Woods by Danielle Eleanor La Valle after Chris Kads -I haven't gone back far enough,keep going, keep going,back, back, back,farther still......ah, there, there you are, sitting on a log.Waiting maybe.You are wind-thickened skin, tattoos madeof soot and saliva,scars I didn't know a body could hold.I look at you and see an early death,abscess teeth, parasites, tuberculosis.You smile with the half teeth you have remaining.You look at me as I am, confused and wrapped in many layers of highly profitable fear.You are deaf in one ear and you limp,rheumatoid is already curling your fingers,but you're alive, gloriously and nakedly in this wood.We are I think the same age, though that means something different here.Then asking with your eyes -neither of us have any language that will mean anything to the other- you want to know why am I so sad, why am I so afraid?You put your hand on the scar that missed my eye,you hold up the face I fear is sagging too soon,you slid your arms around my soft, asymmetrical body.More from Danielle Eleanor Lavalle ↓@danielleeleanorlavalle on InstagramAnd now for the poem this was written after. Dear Personal Care Department God by Chris Kads after Lancee Whetman -God of the Personal Care Department,please grant me musk. Grant methe strength of “Steel Courage” -buffness in a bottle. Let mybody be a vessel of “dragon’s breath”and “warrior’s blood”. Allow me,like men, to be baptizedin wet swagger, to have mypreconceived softnesswash away with the scentof toughness.Bless me,with blindness in the faceof razors. Grant methe normalizationof forest-y armpitsto pair with the scent of“Sasquatch Foot”.And, please, oh holyPersonal Care Department God,revoke your commandmentsand let the avoidance of “Secret”and smoothnessnot be a sin.Amen.More from Chris Kads ↓@chris_kads on InstagramSupport + Stay Connected to OPOIf you’d like to support the show, Substack and Patreon members receive a copy of my book, For My Daughter, along with episodes from the audiobook.Poetry slows us down. Thank you for listening.