Ode For Firsts by Jaiden Geolingo

Ode For Firsts

We are in the third act.
We are observing each other’s
curvature. We are breathing
down each other’s neck
like a needy fanblade. Starting the day
with socks on the ground,
I wanted more and I realize now that there’s only a dead leaf
in the picture. Here is your catechism
where the only rule is releasing
the metaphorical fire hydrant.
I’ve let go of things,
a lacuna in the catalog of the body.
So, given that, this must be history in clockwork—
I parcel you up like an heirloom, you divine thing.
Today, I’ll be selfish. You’ll see me in a strange display.
You will not stay with me for a while.

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Jaiden Geolingo is a Pinoy writer based in Georgia, United States, and the author of How to Migrate Ghosts (kith books, 2025). A finalist for the Georgia Poet Laureate’s Prize and a 2025 National YoungArts Winner in Poetry, his writing appears or is forthcoming in diode poetry journal, The Shore, The Tupelo Quarterly, Writers Digest, and elsewhere. Jaiden is the editor-in-chief of Hominum Journal and a Best of the Net nominee. He is currently working on his second manuscript titled Hymnal of Hourglasses.