lace & laundry soap, 2018.
“turn ur location on”
paying for chocolate bars in street credit and pink glitter
five doubled over girls dream of snow days rolling away from skin burning blue lights
half barefoot on still hot pavement. formerly on a diet of chewing polaroid pictures
with a side of scraped off freezer ice and baby carrots but now summer is over.
one sits like a safe space with a tooth-crystal and a single high-top nike sneaker
under purple sky it’s morning all night and the backroad holds
slow motion car stereo rap under its brick and mortar of cricket noises
in someone’s bed she eats pancakes and the cold black metal of a revolver.
boys taking punches for fun don’t suffer the trauma
of melting down because they’re not split into a pile of file folders calling itself a tree.
a signature of lost shoes and the crushed cereal dust dilemma,
the girls can't be everything the girl can't be.
snapped pink acrylic nails and stolen magic. hit a lick then kiss hard to prevent apraxia.
two go missing. a sugar shattered phone in the street is tracked by the other three.
The collection lace & laundry soap consists of eleven poems that work to explore the complexities of womanhood in the south, touching on the themes of abuse, loss, and motherhood. Emotionally complex adult situations are narrated with a chaotic tone of femininity and recklessness characteristic of a young teenage girl, showcasing the unusual culture around women’s issues in a small town in Virginia. The collection explores the cyclical nature of oppression, dissociation, and superstition through the lens of women with hidden narratives who are avoiding their own trauma.