ISSN: 1941-4137
POETRY THAT ENACTS THE ARTISTIC AND CREATIVE PURITY OF GLASS
POETRY THAT ENACTS THE ARTISTIC AND CREATIVE PURITY OF GLASS
Cathleen Allyn Conway is a creative writing PhD at Goldsmiths, University of London. She is the managing editor of Plath Profiles, the only academic journal dedicated to the work of Sylvia Plath, and the founding editor of poetry webzine Thank You For Swallowing. Her chapbook, All the Twists of the Tongue is forthcoming from Grey Book Press and another, Static Cling, is available from Dancing Girl Press. She lives in London with her partner and son.
Nothing
If I turned out to not be a girl,
would you still like me?
I’m not a boy. I’m nothing.
Not a child. Not old. Not a girl.
I’m just me. Is that disgusting?
I have always been intrigued by journals.
They are like dollhouses: you look
inside them and see a preserved self.
Every door is my door, just for me.
If I turned a girl, would you still like me?
If I turned a girl like me? What do you think I am?
I can be the princess, so cold and so fair.
What if I turned out to be the dragon?
The whole world is too small and I
am trapped inside it. Everyone is boxes
inside boxes for girls not ready to face
the big mean world of men and sex.
Please, you must neither move nor speak.
I hate promises. Promise me.
Just lie there on the stones.
Promise me and forgive me.
Glass: A Journal of Poetry is published monthly by Glass Poetry Press.
All contents © the author.
All contents © the author.
