Sage

Old Faithful

 

I’m the sexiest girl      in Levi’s jeans
and a jockstrap            you’ll ever see
my black dress            under my layers
of lumberjack flannel              a beard
that stretches   from my chin
to the woods               around Yosemite
I chop down trees       build decks
from them       I cut grass with my teeth
Go get ‘em, girl!
my purse          matches my carpenter boots
matches the     trailer               I use to haul
cords of wood             big-ass fireplace
eats them up    rough handled axe
for chopping smells     like the Axe
on my body     I smell like someone
you’d take       home after drinks
when I pass women    on the street
I wonder if my            assigned         male body
terrifies them as it terrifies me
I build             Ikea furniture like a pro
tie shoelaces    the way           I tie knots
I learned in Boys’ Scouts
maybe if          I spray enough Axe I’ll
blend in with the         other guys
and they          won’t notice the
hem of my dress          poking out
when my professor      addresses
“All the guys in the room”
I drag my eyes up       to look
I guess he means me   too
I guess     I didn’t wear my dress
tight enough today      I guess
the flannel       doesn’t mean “Lesbian Here!”
just means another dude         with a dick
she can’t undress from            another guy
with a body     and that body is hers to keep
no refunds please        check your dysphoria at the door.
maybe I’ll go to Yosemite someday   maybe
someone else will go to Yosemite in his place
and she will love the geysers              as much as I do
she’ll jump in the geyser         and he’ll jump in
too       I’ll take pictures     together we’ll all be
a national park


Sage is a Creative Writing undergraduate student at Elms College in Massachusetts. They work on and have been published in their campus’ literary magazine, BLOOM. They received the Blue House Writing Center Fellowship from Elms College two years in a row, and this summer they participated in the 2016 Juniper Summer Writing Institute at the University of Massachusetts. Their work was recently published in the Glass Poetry Press’ special feature “Pulsamos,” in honor of the Orlando shooting in June. Sage enjoys hunting through Western Mass for poetry slams, fellow artists, and the odd elephant.