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Calloused Hands, Craggy Teeth


   


I have ingested my disadvantage
my disadvantage and my dictionary

Always in a green withdrawal
in my feudalized shelter

I don’t mention class to my superiors
They’d say they’ve subsidized my opinions

Thralls of difference produce surplus
My Papaw’s bent back knew

I do remember the smell of coal mines
though I’ve not prayed inside one






Brandon North is a working-class, disabled, and multi-genre writer from Ohio. He is the author of the speculative nonfiction chapbook FROM THE PAGES OF EVERY BOOK, (Summer 2022, Ghost City Press), and his work appears in Zero Readers, Voidspace Zine, Essay Daily, The Cleveland Review of Books, and elsewhere. His Twitter handle is @brandonenorth.