past words

messages many
medias located
in hand place
written by hand
direct from dick
pics to epics
next to goo
crawled between
breasts plate
and float ribs
to bad swing
I am not a swinger
no matter how
much brown liquor
lime rocks under
ice when months
felt like more
this time too
breaks up the day
it won’t ever feel
good or nice
or together
instead of waiting
for finger nails
to disappear
and hair under
the bed

Text Message:

Please do not talk
to Me about dehumanizing
feelings. Since the work
started to be
a secondary partner
to You I felt like
My emotions and needs
were treated as less than
no matter how much
we talked, processed, or
what have You –
stuck feeling like
I was ultimately
viewed as a less than.
Spending time with Me
should never be someone’s
sacrifice they deserve
a reward for
– ever.

KRISTINE is the author of woman, depose (FlowerSong Press). KRISTINE is originally from northwest Indiana and the Chicagoland area. She is a Purdue University alum who double majored in English Literature and Creative Writing. Recently, she earned her MFA in Creative Writing (poetry) from City College of New York (CCNY) where she is currently an English Department adjunct. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Glass Poetry, Pink Plastic House, The Shallow Ends, Moonchild Magazine, Yes Poetry, Crab Fat Magazine, Philosophical Idiot, Barren Magazine, The New Southern Fugitive, and Flying Island Journal where she received a 2017 Pushcart Prize nomination. KRISTINE has also been a finalist in the 2020-21 Glass Poetry Chapbook Contest, Spring 2020 Flash Fiction Contest finalist for F(r)iction, received a CCNY English Department Teacher-Writer Award, and recently completed a writing residency with Poets Afloat April ’21.