– Home
– Issues
– Submit
– About

TPC Review Issue 003

Yvon Pan

Teenage Dream (girlhood was a nightmare)

good girl branded iron hot on inner thigh
a promise, or an attempt
at manifestation
carve shame into skin, beads of red like
a rosary: blessed are you among other good girls
and blessed is your shame, clothed in pleats
marinating in subtropical humidity.
So this is how crucifixion smells
after a long day at class.
blood everywhere, oppressive and wet
heavy in your lower abdomen
each stain a Rorschach test of womanhood
and if your insides cause you to sin
retch it up and throw it away
to the voice of a father descending like thunder.

Little bird, hair black and heavy
rearranges her larynx to sing the right words
that will grant eternal salvation. There she is,
seventeen and already fantasizing about
oncoming traffic.