c/o Sofia Baluyut

Poems of Our Climate is a weekly poetry column run by Sofia Baluyut ’23. The column was founded by Oliver Egger ’23 as a part of the literary magazine group Route 9, whose literary magazine The Lavender is currently open for submissions on the theme of Obsessions! Submit and read past issues of The Lavender at Route9.org. If you are interested in having your poem featured in this column, Poems of Our Climate, please email your work directly to sbaluyut@wesleyan.edu.

upon learning that 60% of wesleyan’s collections are Native American in origin

By Sofia Baluyut ’23

ivory tower, the library hush, and print, she presses

her ear to the books to hear them hum. see 

the circulation desk, life beating out from center.

see the girl, the rhythm breath makes 

when put in contact with dust. they tell her

life’s within these tomes, the white men

in white rooms; white men in white coats,

how they doctor the truth

for slaughter. see? she knows. what is of her,

here, was also stolen. 

About the Poet: Sofia Baluyut is a Filipinx American poet from Brooklyn, New York. She is interested in poetry as illumination (shoutout Audre Lorde!) and creating worlds that better hold her beloveds. You can most often reach Sofia in the sun, by the water, or at sbaluyut@wesleyan.edu.