MEHRISH, DIVYA
Divya Mehrish
Age: 17, Grade: 12
School Name: Spence School, New York, NY
Educator: Sara Beasley
Category: Poetry
Fairy; Ooze
Fairy
When Tinker Bell was my friend,
I wore leaves in my sleep,
let the veins meander around my breasts
as nature folded me in like damp paper.
When Tinker Bell was my friend,
I loved dancing in circles,
sniffing pixie dust like a greyhound
tracking the scent of fresh blood.
When Tinker Bell was my friend,
I could turn myself inside out—
organs shimmering out of my skin,
my ears could contract like ventricles.
When Tinker Bell was my friend,
I learned to unscrew the bolts pinning
pelvis to hips, carving away the extra bone
until the plates could flap like wings.
When Tinker Bell was my friend,
I assembled a skeleton out of the excess
of my anatomy. Lightened myself to the point
of extinction—just enough to be able to fly.
Ooze
When spring melts into summer
I am sticky inside—
like a round, indigo plum
wet flesh puckering like a kiss
crinkling like tissue paper
oozing into a prune.
My limbs dangle drowsily,
hot and humid, as skeleton sweats
crystalline beads of bone. I ache
with the pleasure of juxtaposition:
globules of ice melting feverish skin.
Fingertips buzzing like fireflies
I play myself like a piano—
echoing into the fresh moonshine,
I give birth to myself,
again and again.