Annihilation by Ross White
Annihilation
Ross WhiteBreak my tooth on my tongue
if I speak. Bust wide open
my lips as they form the deadly
syllable. Batter my palate to pulp.
So much seething I could shatter
all sound if I gave voice to it.
I’ve felt this way 759 days
& have said nothing.
I’ve drawn lines in sand
with sticks & thought this,
inviolable, & all were crossed
& I tried cussing & curses fattened
in my throat & now they’re thick,
so thick maybe no air will pass
through this larynx & this aching
jaw may not sink to let out
the sound, anyhow, if it comes.
Crack apart my canines if I erupt,
grind the tongue to jam.
Because once the mouth obeys
what it’s so long swallowed,
once this blubbering turns to wail,
I’ll be siren, part of the choir
singing smash this, set this alight,
so loudly every eardrum bursts.
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ABOUT ROSS WHITE
Ross White is the author of Charm Offensive, winner of the Sexton Prize for Poetry, and three chapbooks, Valley of Want, How We Came Upon the Colony, and The Polite Society. He is the director of Bull City Press, an independent publisher of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction, where he hosts The Chapbook, a podcast devoted to chapbooks. He teaches creative writing, podcasting, publishing, and grammar at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His poems have appeared or are… (more)
Read more poems by Ross White • Find books by this poet on Amazon • Bookshop • Follow on Twitter • Bluesky • Website • Or view my library
ENDNOTES
- This is Day 8 of The Sealey Challenge 2026—a community challenge to read one book of poetry a day for the month of August, named after Nicole Sealey.
- Explore other works in pursuit of: silence • strangers • violence • Or browse the index
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