Girls Online
The first line is a row of girls,
twenty-five of them, almost
a painting, shoulders overlapping,
angled slightly towards you.
One says: I'm myself here.
The others shudder and laugh
through the ribbon core that strings
them. They make a tone tighter
by drummingon their thighs and
opening their mouths. The girls
are cells. The girls are a fence,
a fibrous network. One by one
they describe their grievances.
Large hot malfunctioning
machines lie obediently at their sides.
Their shirts are various shades
of ease in the surrounding air,
which is littered with small cuts.
One will choose you, press you
into the ground. You may never
recover. The second-to-last line
has a fold in it. The last line is
the steady pour of their names.
_______________
Emily Skillings
Fort Not
The Song Cave
2017
