House Of Joyce Leslie

By Monica McClure

If I could be anyting
I would be a rich white girl
and I am almost halfway there
I straightened my hair before it rained
Now all I can do is pray
I don’t mean that figuratively
I’m living in this logocentrism
Where did I get these Spanish thighs
I was crying in the food court
because I’m afraid
of the spiritual anorexia that I crave
I wrote out a prayer in reportorial style
like a good Protestant
Obsessed with achieving
the androgyny of my time
I cut when my boyfriend said
I had the figure
of an average Hispanic girl
so what was I so upset about
I decided to try liposuction at home
So much splendor is owed
to dysmorphia and a f*cked perspective
like those Gothic spires poking the heavens
that someone just thought up like
can we tap this broomstick
on ethereal marble floors or what
can we really do