after Laura Gilpin and Cameron Awkward-Rich
Freak of nature. Girl-monster two-headed disaster.
Every leaf changes her color.
Tilted face towards an unbearable sky, tears freezing
Hand up to the sun. The light is dimming
on ugly cheeks, desperate pleading, bleating faster
Flashlight in your back pocket, saved from summer,
and louder love me! love me! Girl-sized creep of needing
from stripping down at the lake shore and swimming.
Gaping hole. Dripping wounded cobwebbed ribcage.
Autumn now. The wind softens your body into thrifted sweaters
Hand at your heart. Hand on your stupid heart.
and your hand holds other hands. Your hands veined in the streetlights
Whole body of wanting. Full of ache. Your wild girl-rage.
Take the flashlight out. Shine it upwards. Accidentally, you shine it in your eyes.
You blink into yourself. A million uncontrollable stars.
—Katey Funderburgh
Portrait as the Two-Headed Calf
KATEY FUNDERBURGH is a queer poet from Colorado. She is currently an MFA Candidate at George Mason University. Katey serves as a Poetry Alive! fellow, and as a co-coordinator for the Incarcerated Writers Project of Phoebe Journal. Some of Katey's other poems appear in The Blood Pudding and Josephine Quarterly. When she isn't writing, you can find Katey laying in the sun with her cat, Thistle. Or, find her on Twitter @coloradoKatey.