i couldn’t help looking
into this ivory birdbath.
beauty is the place i know
to go when i can’t find
anyone i love. i can’t help drinking,
just a little. and a little
more. and wanting it to cradle me.
and wanting to turn
to stone, too, immovable.
the beautiful thing these creatures
seek to keep small dreads small.

how long a ribbon takes
to snap, the dramatic feathering
of a burlesque dancer
all strawberry curl. but death
upon this sex is immediate.
i felt fate turn over, the sleeping
fetus in me, it flipped tail to head.
and a fixture of the garden
isn’t really what i am now.
i am young. i am ruby.
girlness brought me here.