Blackbirdan online journal of literature and the artsSpring 2012 v11n1
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REBEKAH ZHURAW

Birth

Thanks to modern medicine, you’re still here
demanding love. It’s pathetic, and you know it,
but you can’t hold back.
You see a bicycle toppled in a yard
and weep. You fuck a man you don’t love
and end up loving him.  
You try to tame the body. First you pamper it,
then you deny it—you play a little S&M
and end up with something like a pet dragon. To your shame
you realize you love the dragon, too. Which is when you begin to understand
religion, gods, and drag.
On the birthing floor you first saw this self
and that everywhere you’d go, everyone you’d touch, that life is tied to your life.
You asked for it.  


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