volta [we left]
we left womanhood because we were not
a very good one. so easy to reach
handsome; crushing to fall shy of beauty.
listen. we are so good we will tell you
all of the ways we are not. a fetish
is a fetish if borne in childhood
in childhood men loved us wrong like glitch
like a girl loved us lolita sweet loved
us like a mistake. we were a fetish
developed in childhood for wrong men.
they turned us replica. simulacrum
object to represent girl and its heft.
every dress began to feel like drag.
we left womanhood with no where in mind
to leave to. some did not like that we sought
to leave. and that made us want to leave more.
we tired of our body divided
into staves of chromosome. we are so
convinced of our neuter self that when some
one calls us she we turn and look for her.
THE WIFE BEFORE SCHEHERAZADE WRITES A POEM
for the generations who will not live to see revolution
Mya Matteo Alexice is a non-binary Black and white graduate of the Rutgers-Newark MFA. A Cave Canem fellow and pseudo-librarian, they are the author of A Shape We’ve Yet to Name (Game Over Books). Their poems can be found in publications such as Pleiades, Black Warrior Review, Copper Nickel, Hayden’s Ferry Review, The Bennington Review, Barrelhouse, Honey Literary, The Pinch, Cherry Tree, underblong, and elsewhere. They’ve received fellowships from the Mellon Foundation, Fine Arts Work Center, and more. They were the runner-up in the 2023 Black Warrior Review Poetry Contest judged by Gary Soto. They enjoy video games where you can make the characters kiss.