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Mehrish, Divya, Fairy; Ooze


Divya Mehrish
Age: 17, Grade: 12

School Name: Spence School, New York, NY
Educator: Sara Beasley

Category: Poetry

Fairy; Ooze


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.


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.