​in theory
everything is fine

parents age      they ail
this is natural progression

in praxis
polyps, prayer       thorns sans rose

everything is fine
nothing is wrong nothing hurts
the therapy is working

theoretically

this is practically another lifetime
post-earth shatter         post-suicide
attempting time travel
away from viral
and state violence

praxis was the groove 
between pelvis and thigh        grips 
at something transcendent

in theory, sighs
but really—crying

theoretically, tired
actually—exhausted
in practice, melatonin capsule
after capsule,
lavender, deep breathing, 
and pleas for sleep,
for anything

dreams and theory
as ontology        this study of
research methods
with its sample group of one

bibliographically incomplete
unwritten
brain         storming
​​
Angel C. Dye is a poet and scholar of African American Literature from Dallas-Ft. Worth, Texas by way of Milwaukee, Wisconsin and the author of the chapbook BREATHE (Central Square Press). A graduate of Howard University, she holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Kentucky and is a Ph.D. student in English at Rutgers. Her work has appeared in About Place Journal, The Pierian Journal, Blue Mountain Review, Tahoma Literary Review, and A Gathering Together Journal. Dye writes in the tradition of Lucille Clifton, Amiri Baraka, and Sterling A. Brown, striving to carry on their legacies of radical self-love and artistic activism.
image: mati mango via pexels