Emily Bark Brown
Small Gold Cloud
i am a clod with no cleavage
no cleaving me from myself no more
no more leaving me! listen everyone
i can’t take even one more small betrayal!
considering wigs to no avail
i’m sick of myself i want a beau travail
a trial i’ve taken to zipping myself up for fun
i’m over treading carefully
i’m shredding i’m forgetting i’m not letting
myself be down i’m worried my stitches have
splits i’m spitting my words out with a sibilant s
i’m sorry i’m stupid i started to say
i’m ass out bottom feeding i’m baby bidet
i bought vegan marshmallows for the fire
and everyone babies me like a sweetie
like a pie a blushing pie a toasted popover pop up
sleepover i’m a sucker for anything girly
and sweet i’m posting a pic to my stories
because i looked so cute in my baby’s hat
i’m back baby baby’s back
Did You Know I See a Butterfly Every Day?
they love me my grandmother
loved butterflies my mother loved
sunflowers i see them everywhere
my cousin laura wanted to get matching
tattoos (butterflies) and i was like no
but now i’m like maybe? when i
go what will you see to remind you of me?
who is the you? anyway maudlin
aggrieved butterfly easy metaphor
yes i know i have to change! easy to say
today i woke up and decided to be happy
the insects know fall is approaching rapidly
even the people know but they know so vapidly
What Do You Do With Your Leftover Love?
i swept each room and vacuumed and found accumulations of my old self via my phone which
serves them to me unbidden i have hidden
every photo of her on my phone there were thousands
i took each thing off my desk and put it on my bed
i said the darkness! i’m a mess! a heavily body
today i got a new couch one day i will die
i mementoed my mori i’m sorry hi sorry
do you know what happens after all this?
some piece of plastic i abandoned as a kid
will gain sentience and miss me
i miss me too. is this me? chaotic awake
i baked a carrot cake from scratch last week
the hardest part is shredding without letting any of yourself in
no i will not serve you carrot and me cake
no miniature garrote for my necklike finger
the hardest part of shredding carrots is seeing one carrot become carrot?
many different things become a pile of one thing, carrot
the day after i die i hope everyone i love bakes a cake
Emily Bark Brown is an editor at Hot Pink Magazine. Recent work can be found in Bennington Review, Peach Mag, Hobart, and Chicago Review. Visit them online at www.emilybarkbrown.com