top of page
half2_blue.jpg

1 poem

by Zefyr Lisowski

Zefyr Lisowski (she/they) is a queer Southern transplant, writer, artist, and triple Pisces. She's the author of Blood Box, selected as Editor's Choice in the Black River Chapbook Contest and forthcoming from Black Lawrence Press, the microchapbook Wolf Inventory (Ghost City Press 2018), and is a poetry co-editor at Apogee Journal. She lives in the woods, the sea, and at zeflisowski.com

Girl Work

 

After the schoolyard incident meanings blur

Average temperatures rising worldwide

My body luscious                        Like

Who wouldn’t consume me

Like hi                        my gender is scrumptious

My pronouns are eaten/ate

I love the way my hair looks in this light   

Apocalyptic                         you know

What’s the opposite of being ruined?

The oceans have grown an inch in our lifetimes

Like wow            I cover my hands with salt

The news anchor says my body is a seaside            

I can deny others’ blame for anything

After it happens I sit on the breakers

This is what I’m trying to tell you

My disassociation becomes statistical

Yes things are getting worse

Yes the subway flooding with people

Yes drought yes crying scientists

When I lost my dad I thought                        wow

Why am I not crying more

This is a common narrative I learn

Things are consumed every day

I fling my body into the water                       

The anchor moving on to another story

I don’t talk about loss much

The water is still rising

bottom of page