Belly Up

It’s so hot the rocks are sweating balls
My ribcage is getting scarce and loose
The train comes along the way a scarecrow would

You effectively stay away from me
Il treno parte con e senzi di me
I pull a cigarette from the pack with my teeth

I can’t get off at Ponte Fabricio
Again, always again, again
The Tiber’s a bowl of light

Following your example, I can’t bear to call
Canary in a coal mine; an auspicious parking lot
When I got a haircut you made me prove my identity

I was tossing you in the air like dough
I was bored and I decided to die
No tragedy should have to compromise

Music jumps in my ear like a kangaroo
The ceiling bores down like a panini press
My screen is a petal in the corner of America

The coroner asks about my rape
This summer we are gaining weight
Acquired a bruise that looks like pilaf

The novelty of faith has really worn off
I wear my heart on my sleeve (very unhygienic)
Everyone can see the clots

I am the woman that forgets
(to wipe the sun from her eyes)
the Tiber’s a bowl of light

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Josephine Gawtry is a poet from Southern Virginia. She is currently an MFA candidate at Colorado State University, where she is the recipient of a Gill-Ronda Fellowship and an editorial assistant for Colorado Review. She has a three-legged rabbit named Cabbage.