hate the sin







 


hate the sin


 


 


 


but tell me again what choice she had?


 


a world, plaited with wonder, muddied.


crayons wept as her flesh burned


like funnels from flues


slagging black cotton sky;


 


her body and mind divided—


armies advancing under charred


points of fish fin guidons, unfurled


and pitched into the quickening.


 


she slaked thirst with curdled wormwood;


sliced her skin; stained garments with bloody


puss chuffing thrums of festered ruin;


 


harvested the sorrow of her one bedded thought,


a harrowing increase of insomnia.


 


what could she do?


 


stride into traffic


step off an edge


touch the third rail


 


or drag herself on ragged knees,


and rave through the streets of Gomorrah.


 


 


Gina Marie Bernard


 
 


Gina Marie Bernard is a heavily tattooed transgender woman, retired roller derby vixen, and full-time English teacher. She lives in Bemidji, Minnesota. Her daughters, Maddie and Parker, own her heart. Her chapbook Naked, Gettin' Nuder was a 2018-2019 Glass Chapbook series finalist, and has been accepted for publication by Clare Songbirds Publishing. Her work has recently appeared in r.kv.r.y quarterly, The Hunger Journal, Waccamaw Journal, Rat's Ass Review, and Jet Fuel Review.

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