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Material Girl

before, we were all girls. then it changed.
then there was Eve. then there was Madonna.

 

heaven help me. then there was shame, torn blue
robes. how old were you when you lost your body?

 

when you knew it was not your own to name?
we tried Alice, Dorothy, Lolita. we tried boy-child.

 

some were thrown bare-chested. some were thrown
on a wheel. we tried Catherine. we tried manhood.

 

do you remember running naked in the long grass?
do you remember when it rained, thinking it rained

 

all over the world? kiss me baby. when we were girls
we were very small. then we became bigger than ever.

 

we became larger than life. standing in the storm
in a ripped tuxedo, standing on hot sand in cleaved gowns.

 

can you remember which ribs are false?
which ones are true?


ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR

is a graduate of the University of Edinburgh’s Creative Writing MSc. Her poetry has been published in Glasgow Review of Books and On Paper (Spam Zine’s Unofficial Love Island Anthology), amongst others. She currently works at the British Museum.

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