Polaroid of
a pig in the middle of the street eating birthday cake,
another day older
another day we are dead, burnt and smoke, all I want is wax on my chest,
down my stomach.
One day older, there is a pig in the street with a birthday hat on.
There are so many months about you that I will never know,
that nothing can language,
how to articulate time that has past but is present, a photograph moment.
You know those who would kill you dead if you let them.
Taxidermy your heart with deformations like two heads,
waxy lips, open eyes (are they real?).
Honk the horn if you have one, ask them to leave the street to let you pass,
can I pass, can I pass? Dear pigs, I am sorry
I must break up the feast, the Queen understands how it is to be hungry,
to celebrate the day of your birth,
happy birthday, happy birthday, here is the candle, blow it out.
Katie Jean Shinkle is the author of one novel, Our Prayers After the Fire (Blue Square Press, an imprint of Mud Luscious Press, forthcoming), and three chapbooks. Other work can be found in or is forthcoming from Barrow Street, Third Coast, FLAUNT Magazine, Blackbird, and elsewhere. She is a doctoral candidate in creative writing at the University of Denver.
another day older
another day we are dead, burnt and smoke, all I want is wax on my chest,
down my stomach.
One day older, there is a pig in the street with a birthday hat on.
There are so many months about you that I will never know,
that nothing can language,
how to articulate time that has past but is present, a photograph moment.
You know those who would kill you dead if you let them.
Taxidermy your heart with deformations like two heads,
waxy lips, open eyes (are they real?).
Honk the horn if you have one, ask them to leave the street to let you pass,
can I pass, can I pass? Dear pigs, I am sorry
I must break up the feast, the Queen understands how it is to be hungry,
to celebrate the day of your birth,
happy birthday, happy birthday, here is the candle, blow it out.
Katie Jean Shinkle is the author of one novel, Our Prayers After the Fire (Blue Square Press, an imprint of Mud Luscious Press, forthcoming), and three chapbooks. Other work can be found in or is forthcoming from Barrow Street, Third Coast, FLAUNT Magazine, Blackbird, and elsewhere. She is a doctoral candidate in creative writing at the University of Denver.