Poetry: Selections from Nolcha Fox

I squiggle and squirm

in clothes designed

to fit me into

what I’m not.

My scalp just screams

in locks too long.

I can’t pretend

to be less years 

than what my birthday says.

I know I look

like something odd,

when hair is buzzed

and clothes are loose.

A child asks

are you boy or girl?

I smile and answer

yes.

I am the quiet one dissolving

into faded wallpaper

that no one sees

because it’s faded,

because it doesn’t move.

That’s the trick

to staying quiet:

Fade and don’t move.

Electric Beater

She frowned the beater

‘round the bowl

to meld the flour into cake.

She laid the beater in the sink.

That’s when we saw

the beater wasn’t electric.

She was.

I kill her

shove her in

a shoe box,

that wild-eyed me

puddle splashing

barefoot,

grubby-handed

grabbing the world

by the throat.

Love me, I am lovely,

the killer says.

See how I am good.

Yes, I am good.

And dead.

Nolcha’s poems have been published in Lothlorien Poetry Journal, Alien Buddha Zine, Medusa’s Kitchen, and others. In addition she is a nominee for 2023 Best of The Net, editor for Kiss My Poetry and Open Arts Forum, accidental interviewer, and faker of fake news.