CARMEN GIMÉNEZ SMITH


Dispatch from Midlife

Image

Gender is the civic center

of my adrenal gland.

I am bound by certainty

to keep it in a shell.

Past fertility, insomnia

is the new membrane

around my nights. My

mortal terror is the now

with what’s left of me.

What are you, demand

the witches from the throne

of their own infallible

femininity. I’m a monster

of my own making who quit

one guile for this new one,

wanton with indifference.

from Colorado Review