Mama wanted to show them
how a face can become mud
bubblin’
Hung me on a drying rack
to air the horror human
hands make
My face is gravel my face
is blind my face is movement human so
unkind
O yes I can still whisper my secrets
without a tongue
O yes I can still whistle like a spate
with all this water in my lungs
Jesi Bender is an artist from Upstate New York. She is the author of the novels Rhododendron (forthcoming 2027), Child of Light, and The Book of the Last Word; the plays Crux and Kinderkrankenhaus; and the poetry collection Dangerous Women. Her shorter writing has appeared in FENCE, Denver Quarterly, Sleepingfish, and others. www.jesibender.com