Mantis 22 (Summer 2024)
dis.orientations

Glen Armstrong


Antonyms for “Beyond”

There are no sensibilities,

only touching,

only noises that wrench

me from my self

as if from sleep.

Identity slumbers until

strangers collide

in the street.

I have been interested

in fingers and toes

since I was a baby.

It’s as if I have been training

for this moment all my life.


GLEN ARMSTRONG (he/him) holds an MFA in English from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and edits a poetry journal called Cruel Garters. His poems have appeared in Conduit, Poetry Northwest, and Another Chicago Magazine.