Hillary Berg, Cass (Artist Website)
Archival Inkjet Print from Kodak Portra Film
We stuff our masses
to be pushed up, rounded out—
strapped in and hewn just right
with no elastic crease or pucker,
no mark our skins have other uses.
Instead of letting pieces fall
where they fall
we mold ourselves into shapes
to be reckoned by someone else.
I tell you what.
I’d rather be flat as a board,
a slip—streamlined like a coyote
so I don’t get caught up on barb
when I’m slipping through the wires,
skipping and slick-grinning with something
real good hanging from my teeth
that I don’t plan on setting down
at anyone’s feet.