SWWIM sustains and celebrates women poets by connecting creatives across generations and by curating a living archive of contemporary poetry, while solidifying Miami as a nexus for the literary arts.

Storyteller

She has a home,

A beautiful home,

Inhumed on the pages

Where she draws—

 

She was never good at history,

So we recreate our own

Laced in paint,

Like on a cave,

In various colors.

 

There are rocks in my blood

To be unearthed,

Martial secrets

Stowed inside her kidneys

That can only come out in a lie.

We can’t lie to each other.

Instead, we settle for truth.

 

And this, right here, is my truth:

 

She is lawful, and that scares me.

What’s more, she senses the chickens

Poking fun at my marrow with their beaks,

Giving my shadow room to breathe,

A chance to escape.

 

She sees the other girls

Who’ve left me alone in bed,

The men who’ve forced me

To stay in theirs.

She sees that I feel unlovable,

Undeserving of her crafts.

 

She picks up a pencil,

She sees me, still,

And continues to draw.

 

The woman on the page is strong,

Virtuous as a helmet.

There is aftermath that’s not my fault—

I am standing tall, but that’s not

The real focus.

 

There are walls behind me,

Two arms, and a roof.

There is nothing holding it up.

We are all free standing structures. 

 

This home, it is beautiful.

She made it just for me.

This may be just a story,

But it’s one she tells

Until it's our truth.

 

Fabulist me;

I want to hear it one more time.


Anastasia Jill is a queer poet, fiction writer, and aspiring filmmaker. Her work has been published or is upcoming with Poets.org, Lunch Ticket, FIVE:2:ONE, Ambit Magazine, apt, Into the Void Magazine, 2River, Requited Journal, and more.

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