peels

Seth Leeper
| poetry

 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++my father sips coffee while i dance
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++with a sailor on a strand of leftover
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++light from a dead star and i am

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++cinderella in the back bedroom
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++again twirling in delicate circles
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++before i lose my shoe on the shag

+++++++++++++++++++++carpet then my father coughs from
+++++++++++++++++++++his perch on a moonbeam and i am
+++++++++++++++++++++a banana named cinderella and my

+++++++++++++++stepsisters are viciously pulling off
+++++++++++++++my peels and the part of the story
+++++++++++++++i choose to forget is when all the

+++++++++peels have been amputated and
+++++++++there is no cinderella left to twirl
+++++++++and my father pulls the lid off his

coffee to get to the grounds at
the bottom of his paper cup

Seth Leeper is a queer poet. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in Prairie Schooner, Sycamore Review, River Styx, The Journal, Epiphany, and The Account. He lives and teaches in Brooklyn, NY.

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