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Category: Poetry

XX?

I’m not much of a woman
Maybe I’m half of one
My body has the shape
We’ve largely agreed to call female
My chromosomes are oblique crosses
I’m seeing double

Am I missing half of my mind?

I play life defensively
Guarding what I must within reason
I take inside when I choose to
I bleed
But it feels like I missed something
When they were handing out
Club membership cards

Where’s the rest of me?

I check the F box on forms
With confidence
But at the same time
I feel like I’m sitting outside of it
Looking in

November 26, 2024

Need to Remember

I need to remember
To keep my defenses high 

I need to remember
To guard my foolishly soft heart

I need to remember
To enjoy it guardedly when it’s here

I need to remember
How it hurt in the past when it’s gone

I need to remember
It always eventually leaves 

November 24, 2024

How Far, These Tiny Hands

Today I look at my hands
My tiny, small, woman’s hands
And run fingertips over the
Small callouses beginning to form
The skin beginning to dry
And crack in places
And I feel happy
For everything I can do now
All these things that younger me
Wouldn’t even dream of

November 22, 2024

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