BEFORE/AFTER

before

I was just a hungry girl

in love with a woman

without a heart

in a fort

made from couch cushions

and old sheets

I hung streamers there

and wrote poems

in the home that was nothing

but a bunker

she was with me but we

were nothing

after

I am something

like a serpent

who can’t quite

shed her skin

it trails behind me

still attached

I slither through

these rough-floored days

I wiggle

I writhe

I trust in yet

I mean

it’s coming off

off despite the pain

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