“tranny chrimis poem” by sterling-elizabeth arcadia

i wanted you to pee on me and instead i went inpatient

when i got home the first thing i did was bake

i set it out on the porch for one goddamn second and three-half dead racoons ruined my pumpkin pie

instead of showering with you i contemplated suffocating myself with a little trash bag

hawks are a lesson in patience and categorization is meaningless but‭.‬

songbird‭ / ‬songbird‭ / ‬songbird

i told a temporary therapist that i hated my dad instead of telling you how to handle my thighs‭ (‬harder‭)‬

i wanna starve myself til i look like you

straddled atop me in those shorts that confused me for a skirt‭ ‬–‭ ‬reverse cowgirl

i missed seeing the hawk fly off and i never tried that sponge bob birthday cake we got for jesus


sterling-elizabeth arcadia (She/they)
sterling-elizabeth arcadia is a trans poet and diy tattooer in baltimore, ‬where she watches birds and cares for her cats‭.‬‭ ‬her work has been published in‭ ‬New Delta Review‭, ‬Poetry.onl‭, ‬Stone of Madness Press‭,‬‭ ‬and elsewhere‭.‬