Humanity: Raw & Unfiltered
Four girls, heads together Wish to be seen seeing me. Their gaze sashays past mine, and in their hair Fork-tongued ribbons turn to snakes, Babbling in hisses, as their mistresses do, Dancing as though my faltering words Were music from a charmer’s flute. The girls look at me, Then Read more
Fifth Grade. 10 years old. I chose Harriet Tubman. My mom made my dress measured and cut to size. I was Harriet Tubman, but I was unlike her, a skinny shy kid, the tallest fifth-grader, slouching in my chair, a white girl trying to hide in the crowd. My dress Read more
Pleasant it is to risk all for one’s faith To stand joyfully in pathogenic rain To Typhoid Mary the sinning world And know that God will wink. Pleasant it is to proclaim one’s faith To thrust words into the bodies of others To look upon one’s bloody fists And know Read more
See how she scuttles across the floor The cold tile numbs, then burns Her palms, knees, shins All portions of flesh pressed on The harder thing—the hardest thing Not cursed yet— —Soon Then there’s this back The thing that holds her together The thing she’s built around Grew up around Read more
What if my dystopia is your heaven, my utopia your hell?We’re not on the same page, darlingMay I still call you that?You said it could never happen hereIsn’t that what the Germans said of Hitler?Where did they think his anti-semantic rants would lead?Darling, I know in your heart the idea Read more
I wanted to keep playing Kick the Can, but the other girls said they were too hot, and it was getting too dark, and they were tired from running and didn’t want to be surprised like that anymore. We were sweating. So were the boys. It was an almost-summer Sunday Read more
No. Do you want to hear in it Spanish? No. My clothes mi ropa My words mis palabras My lips mis labios And my looks y mis aspectos does not mean you can touch, grab, pull me like a desirable toy at a playground. To take my body and treat Read more
You didn’t see me.I wasn’t saying anything.You didn’t hear me.The time passed.So much of it good-Quality.But I wasn’t present…Lives created, grown and graduated- Inside of me.Through me-From me- But I had nothing to do with it.Because…I wasn’t here.You can’t see me in photos.That wasn’t me.Skinny.Blonde.West Coat.I’m rounder now.Dark hair.And East Coast by Read more