Lissette Alonso
SLIGHTLY ASKEW
This is one of those things
people don’t talk about,
like being fat
or losing a child,
but really it’s hard
to skirt around.
Pieces of me fall
like dead leaves,
curled and small behind me
in a trail as I walk,
they float to the carpet
lazy and slow,
as I angle myself carefully
through doors and frames.
I try so hard to be round,
an orb like any other,
but I am certain
my edges must protrude
from beneath the fabrics
of my gowns,
strange jutting things
that could not easily slide
into an opening.
It’s a gift I’ve received
from my grandmother,
a wink on a double helix
like the color in my eyes
or a strand of hair maybe,
a shape the doesn’t fit in
a single pair of designer jeans,
a tint to my skin that is
wholly unmaskable.
Date of Birth: 03/09/75 Location: Miami, Florida Email: mrsbear@gate.net Publications: Gumball Poetry, Red Booth Review, Premiere Generation Ink, Poetry Super Highway, etc.
