Carmina Masoliver

What I Didn’t Know Before

After Ada Limón

was that humans produce magnetite
in the tissue of their body, that amongst
all the softness of skin & flesh, crystals –
glittery & hard – are hidden in the head:
the brain, a cave of memories & maps.
Perhaps that’s why, after all this time,
I still feel drawn to you, north & south poles,
coming into contact with each magnetic field.
I walk & my feet carry me towards you
& I want to believe it’s more than attachment
theory, that there is an exact science to this,
the chemicals not just inside me, turning me
into paper clips that are sucked, get stuck
to the pull of you, but who knew, magnets
could be so strong they shatter, they both shatter.

Carmina Masoliver is a London poet, and founder of She Grrrowls feminist arts nights. She has been sharing her poetry on both the page and the stage for over a decade, and her latest book Circles is published by Burning Eye Books (2019). Carmina was long-listed for the Young Poet Laureate for London award in 2013, the inaugural Jerwood Compton Poetry Fellowships in 2017 and the Out-Spoken Prize in Performance Poetry 2018. Alumni of the Roundhouse Poetry Collective, she has featured at nights and festivals including Bang Said the Gun, Latitude, Bestival and Lovebox both as a collective and individually. www.carminamasoliver.com @carminamasoliver