Slash up from my lips
To make a perfect smile
Iron my stomach flat
I haven't felt this good in a while!

Bleed out my thighs
So they won't be so thick
Pull my hair until it's straight
I think I'm almost perfect!

Maybe I'll break my nose
So it can be a little smaller
Why, this is so much easier
Than paying a thousand dollars!

I think next I'll carve out
All of my scars and impurities
Now I believe that's all it takes
For you to see a beautiful version of me

We poets were a sensitive lot
in a world that shat on us
although we fought.

as a kid
there's nothing
like wasting away inside a tiny
room
sitting on the backrest
of the couch
looking out the window
and seeing her
tread through the rain

a red umbrella covers
her.

Mother

she's going back
to the liquor store