[untitled] or tending to the beautiful in a broken world

By Arnisha Royston

---

i want so bad to stop writing about the 
brokenness. my friend said something earlier 
about tending to the beautiful in a broken 
world and i thought how different our worlds 
must break. i’ve tried to imagine the words here 
from someplace else. i am thinking about water 
from a spring. walking barefoot in red dirt. 
horses trailing behind me without saddles. i fell 
mounting a horse in california a few years ago 
my foot slipped between stool and stirrup. 
my back flat against the ground. i could see under 
the horse. how a belly extends down when a 
body is long. when a butcher slaughters goats  
or anything with a similar body they cut from
hind leg to throat. all four legs held tightly apart. 
there isn't much more i can say about this. about 
something being cut open so easily. i remember 
waking up from surgery. trying to make out the 
numbers on the clock. if i knew how long i was 
under. i could make sense of the damage. the clock 
too far. i whispered to the nurse i felt cold everywhere. 
animals must feel cold after that first cut. my sister is 
somehow standing between the nurse’s station and my 
bed smiling. but not happy. i could see the worry 
stuff itself into her hands then her hands in her pockets. i 
asked if it was quick and she said no. and i knew then 
what it meant to be slaughtered. to be cut from throat 
to belly. only the parts needed taken from body to bag. 
to some place i’ll never see again. yes, the world is broken. 
my body a betrayal. sometimes still beautiful. 

---

---

Arnisha Royston is a poet from Los Angeles. She holds a BA from UCLA and a MFA from SDSU. Arnisha is currently the Tickner Writing Fellow at the Gilman School in Baltimore, Maryland. Her poetry is published in literary journals such as Michigan Quarterly Review, North American Review, Rhino, and Phoebe. Recently receiving nominations for a Pushcart and Best of the Net, Arnisha is excited to work towards the publication of her first manuscript.

---

• Are you a SWWIMmer with literary news to share (publication/feature/award/book/book review)? We’d love to shout out your accomplishments in our Weekly Spotlight! Please email swwimmiami@gmail.com with a link to your news. (No DMs on any social media platforms, please.)

• Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter/X, and Bluesky for more updates—and visit our website to see past, present, and future readings & events.

---

**We do our best to preserve the integrity of each poem; however, due to programming limitations, some poems may read differently on a mobile phone and in certain browsers. For best viewing, use Chrome on a desktop/laptop.