I am thinking / a number is not for you / to guess I am over coy
bebes that / coil around the feet / that lech / unnoticed until
someone’s dangling from my meat-hook / I am not over meat
yet / count the numberless / the times I jackrabbit off / stage
performing fishy interpretive demonstrations of / my gender-
squeal / in heels I am touch-and-go / my every clomp sparks tiny
explosions / my eyebrows are gone / I am almost ready / I know
how to follow / directions doll-eyed cooing I want / new
eyebrows / a baby a bunny a blushing / gun to blow / crack
snapplepop ‘n flash / it at dumb admirers / you know what / it
is show&tell
I play interested / I slide down the widest pink / tongue
thrashing / carp overflow me / monthly I am mourning black-
velveteen / I’ll vomit for whomever / gaze at my rubyred scape
Madeline Vardell is an MFA candidate at New Mexico State University. She is the winner of the 2013 Kay Murphy Prize in Poetry, selected by Lara Glenum. Her work has recently appeared in Beecher’s Magazine, Bayou Magazine, Rhino, [PANK], and Whiskey Island. She lives in Mesilla, New Mexico.