Family Dollar

by Hannah Brooks-Motl

I lived a long time as both woman and girl it nearly killed me
I don’t want an ordinary moment any longer no more gestures
Such as the oaks neither shake nor fidget in observation
And the objects worth discussing dissipate oh how they leak
Away from the creeds claiming one can get ahead of the pain
By naming see how the green will change you it really will
I went into the green with a vine across my back and from the mud
Came the pattern before the light could enter light turned
And denied us, the moss struggled toward the yellow
A fine pollen came up from the world and the road made this
Shape in the powder: What’s wrong with right here?
There’s a cape behind my eyes and the body inside it wallows

Across patches of burned up grass untender and lines perpendicular
To the gate I couldn’t open an outrage regularly loiters
Isn’t that weird, how talent carries time?
Nothing’s resolved today and the hours are dim but vital
A body in a cloak upon a road rolling sweetly through the mind
Place this road in some distant future just like that foregone past
And then offensively remember how women don’t exist
Get head of the pain the ages counsel, make plenty of money





Last updated March 15, 2023