She grew up in a city
where the home ate people.
Each peeling duplex was
a pit where meat was thrown.
Gaping maw screen doors
with jagged cuts.
She was lucky to
escape.
If you die in there
they paint right over you
like a roach, the Landlord Special.
Still, though,
she carried splinters of it with her —
splinters that burrow deep
under fingernails and flesh.
Their gnawing incessant as tinnitus.
She knows she will be hollowed
out one day so she spends her time
carefully arranging replacement parts:
filters, fake hearts,
various new Humours,
even a second row of teeth
(for talking back).
She does not know
if it’s enough,
but the important thing
is that she stays occupied.
Chipped
She grew up in a city
where the home ate people.
Each peeling duplex was
a pit where meat was thrown.
Gaping maw screen doors
with jagged cuts.
She was lucky to
escape.
If you die in there
they paint right over you
like a roach, the Landlord Special.
Still, though,
she carried splinters of it with her —
splinters that burrow deep
under fingernails and flesh.
Their gnawing incessant as tinnitus.
She knows she will be hollowed
out one day so she spends her time
carefully arranging replacement parts:
filters, fake hearts,
various new Humours,
even a second row of teeth
(for talking back).
She does not know
if it’s enough,
but the important thing
is that she stays occupied.
Issue 6
https://manyworlds.place/issue-6/dana-willow-kiefer/
Dana Willow Kiefer is a transfeminine poet born and raised in Cleveland. Her work often focuses on the complexity of identity, perception, duality, our relationships to our communities and the landscapes of our neighborhoods. She has previously been published by Literary Cleveland, and will also be published in a zine by BHB Press set for release on December 1, 2024. Her work can be found on Insta at @rodentcharisma or rodentcharisma.itch.io.