The hand that fedclothedheldsmotheredthe same hand that posed itself as comfortfostered my birth I chewed into the knucklesthey crunched and poppedripped the hand offshook it with ragecame back later to lickdown to bone My savagery straight from the wombor nurtured so off the spectrumI was bled to believeI squeezed out taintedat eight I put a plastic bag over my headto diethe hand did not remove … Continue reading I Bit the Hand by Donna Dallas
PoRiverthat’s the name yoain’t none of yo businesswhat went downor underin that riverdark navyslick sucked you ingot stuck thereday after dayjoint after joint We had nowhere else to gobut PoRiver–been a meeting place for a hundred yearsthey said it’s named after Edgar Allen Poe’cause some boy was serenading a girl rightat this very spotat the river’s edge where the wackaweeds tangle and knotdon’t know what … Continue reading Po by Donna Dallas
Buried deep in the womb of this soil rolling around a dead woodworm I’m nested eyes heavy with sleep Yesterday I brimmed with the froth of youth it burst from my breast spewed stars leaking galaxies And I would wrap eager fools into my folds I rushed through them with a windburn meant to sting It didn’t take a master of the universe to spear … Continue reading The Withering Nymph by Donna Dallas
Somewhere she is fat & pregnant & chained to her ironing board jelly-fat swishes around her buttocks / stretch marks spanning the map of New Jersey creep along her belly & boulder breasts her hair is filled with split ends & clumped together like snakes on Medusa’s head She’s waiting for husband #2 to come home with a six-pack of Budweiser & maybe some money … Continue reading Sister by Donna Dallas
I took brandy from the sitter I placed it to my lips my tongue shrank I kept to it I took the cigarette from your mouth I took the needle pricked the vein I salved the sores that festered between my toes and inside my thighs I fought in the alleys and smoked the pipe I shared it with whoever made it back I slept … Continue reading Pureland by Donna Dallas
I feel like a broke ass po bitch from a trailer park in the Everglades I feel like I did when I was ten and Lisa Sacristan picked through my hair with a pen searching for lice but it was just dirt and dandruff Lisa for the record……… I’m on a roll save me – save me from myself I ask this sometimes when blood … Continue reading Welcome to My Barren Womb Theater by Donna Dallas
I wanted to write about those bitches about how they followed me onto the bus every day after school and spit in my hair about how they waited on my corner for me to walk by and they hurled rocks at me or chased me for blocks to cut me to hurt I was gonna put on paper how they crank-called me just to call … Continue reading Beastie by Donna Dallas
Every day is a death I escape from into a night I know nothing about I am merely the means to my own end Continue reading Sucker Punch by Donna Dallas
She walks by me Looks me up and down she sees I got nobody with me no money no jewelry I got the Puma sneakers I got the good face untouched no scars I got the blue eyes they always try to scratch or punch the eyes there’s three or four we gonna fight no matter what nothin I can say or do gonna change … Continue reading FreeStyle by Donna Dallas
Some days I forget that I am nothing so busy keeping up with the Joneses that other person of blind wind zipping through the streets fast and crazy have to get to work attend the meetings the PTA grocery store gas all the places I need to go then something happens the dog pisses on the couch my kid is failing in school I find … Continue reading Ordinary Days by Donna Dallas
