It's #tbt! Enjoy this great one from SWWIM Every Day's archives!
My elbows are unable to bend, shoulders over rotated. Dislocated. As Barbie’s third-closest friend I couldn’t cut the rebranding. I compared waists: mine a little thicker. A tight-lipped smile. Perpetual -ly holding my breath. Apply too much pressure and my arms snap right off. But I’m still more popular than porcelain dolls. Here’s the difference: you can find me in the trash with my cheeks in one piece, my jeweled hair, tinged chlorine green, smudged with gum. A midge fly, a beauty queen. All I know is that there is a body. I must be moved to act. My drowning is in hypotheticals. The girl knows the motive. I know the murder.
Alyse Bensel is the author of Rare Wondrous Things: A Poetic Biography of Maria Sibylla Merian (Green Writers Press 2020) and three chapbooks. Her work has appeared in AGNI, Alaska Quarterly Review, Gulf Coast, Southern Indiana Review, and West Branch. She serves as Poetry Editor for Cherry Tree and teaches at Brevard College, where she directs the Looking Glass Rock Writers’ Conference.
**We do our best to preserve the integrity of each poem; however, due to programming limitations, some poems may read differently on a mobile phone and in certain browsers. For best viewing, use Chrome on a desktop/laptop.