5.29.2011

By Tongues
by Jessica Bell

My friends adored you.
When you’d pick me up
from school they’d stare
at your eyebrows—logos
of gothism—fake lesbianism.
You were a like a big sister;
rock ‘n’ roll baby!—the woman
they all wanted to be.

You’d invite them over
for afternoon tea.
You’d coax them into talking
about sex, masturbation,
homosexuals; you’d express
insight—laissez-faire
toward the boy who
tried on my school dress.

You’d trick them into
betraying my secrets—the girl
I pashed behind the shelter
shed; the one with epilepsy
who liked to lie and got
pregnant from my tongue.
My friends never knew
what happened after they left.




Jessica Bell is an Australian who lives in Athens, Greece. She's a literary women's fiction author and poet whose debut poetry collection, Twisted Velvet Chains, has just been released this May. Her debut novel String Bridge is scheduled to be published by Lucky Press LLC in November, 2011. A list of published works can be seen on her website, www.jessicacbell.com. She also posts four days a week on her blog.

3 comments:

  1. Interesting. Those last two lines seems rather sinister to me.
    Judy, South Africa

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  2. Congrats Jessica! Yep - those last 2 lines echo down cold corridors of meaning - you just opened the fridge door...

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