ribcagemaybes

tell me, boy who is your god. do not say it is the limbs that spread you between knowing and comfort; do not tell me it is hands wrapping a head board, nor a mouth tugging your name for salvation. i want to know who it is that makes you lucent, bent beneath the dark, weeping, because there is no divinity like the one that makes you bleed

i. in 7th grade                                       i didn’t know depression until she told me her name, carving forever scratches along my limbs like little love notes on the bark of a tree. she stole my rings and left me hollow. ii. i had only ever met anxiety in passing, until one day he handed me power and told me to hurt someone else with it. iii. inexperienced, with an uncontrollable quivering in my fingers, he whispered, “ to survive, you must learn quickly.” as i shoved the bevel of a needle into a strangers arm. iv. so, if a therapist could talk away my scars like iodine disinfects, guide the ships through

Everyone was two inches tall. The End.

Yes, I Have A Penis Do not assume (if I hold the door for you), that I am making a statement about your inabilities to open the door for yourself. If you hold it for me, I'll say 'thankyou'. Do not assume (if I pay for the meal), that I am underestimating your earning capacity as a woman. If you invite me out for a meal, you're paying. Do not assume (if I defend your rights), that I am belittling the attempts that you have made to defend your rights yourself. If you defend my rights, I'll consider you human.

I wear a blue plastic retainer at night. It's painful, tight on my teeth, as if my mouth has outgrown it. I don't put it in often enough, so the shape of my jaw twists and changes, until I remember how much I despised braces and consent to slip it in, and I lie awake at night, loathing the imperfection of my teeth and the ache that pulses there as my mouth readjusts to the wires and plastic that force my jaw into the correct position. I wear glasses too – ugly things, dark maroon on top, with a thin, squishy plastic wire on bottom instead of another rim. Not many people know I have them. When I was a kid, I had the rimless kind – s