out of the gutter | a poem

I waited to fall into the arms of a man

without falling apart

without being ripped into pieces

the arms of a man I could trust

with my life

*

I am kneeling for peace

but I will defend my body and raise hell

against yours

if my life depends on it

if you come to yoke me

*

something feasted on my mother

devoured skin and hair

and instead of emboldening my fists

I felt disgusted

and refused to forge myself

after that same image

*

we’d come together

as we held each other undone

*

I

is the most difficult letter to start a sentence with if you mean it

*

I have no time for perfection

I have no interest in perfection

get your lies out of my face

*

I crowned my queens in a pit