Benjamin Garcia

Ode to the Touch-Me-Not

In the language of consent // I revoke // in the affirmative

but I’ll tender for you an enthusiastic // get bent // my body

isn’t up for debate // so you can go // shave your palms now

drop dead // bitch I might // take a page from female dragonflies

that fall on their backs // spread their legs // and wait for the man

to go the fuck away // but with my luck // he’d be a necrophiliac

creeps will touch you // and touch you // and touch you 

and then // they’ll claim that it’s not true // movement

just your common // hydropump action // an easy trick 

turgid and ready // and even came // loose with the swipe of a finger

they’ll call you beautiful // they’ll call you and call you // until

you relent or rebuff // their advances // claim they climbed into your pants

regardless // call you // coy cloister closet case cunt my mistake 

if I ever made any // was not being carnivorous enough // nontoxic

or maybe not remaining my own // flowering clusterfuck // self-pollination 

as a form of self-suck // this is a man’s true fear // to be not needed

they’ll swing your head // by your hair // and call it snakes

the blood that drops // a new genus // of undiscovered poppies 

named for some cis het white // halfwit // who would and should have died  

without help from the first people // who had their own name for this // rape

so they call me // a touch-me-not // dormilona when I’m wide awake

holgazana // can you believe it // when I’m paying his goddamn light bill

it was a man // of course it was a man // who named forget-me-nots

forget-me-nots // who can remember his pathetic name now // not me

Natalie Eilbert