About the Author:

Maggie Ginestra has previously had poems published in Cairn: and The Sow's Ear Poetry Review.

---

The Stalactites under Mt. Soofreemio

In a dream I am slim again
in one of Henry Darger’s caves,

my breasts—skinned butters—
having slipped off and blown

home. I have loins of air
with fragile hair, just

a poof of banana gnats.
I’m beautiful as dirt

freshly shat by worms—
such a black

could be anything tweaked—
a green, a blue, a brown?

I’m indecipherable as
the two mirrors

who stare each other to dust.
Along the frayed underbelly

of earth, my bird-cries
gather in puddles.

My gummy gape, little
oval hunger,

wobbles ladderless
beneath the rocky teats.

I smell a strange lava—
melted spatula, wet dog—

and I run, not caring as
the caves change their colors.

I run, leaving a dead skin
trail of ash

and I dream I am a rabbit
but I’m not.