Eileen Winn

When I Peered Past Doubt and Knew Myself

I identify as a blind spot between two towers/ I identify
as the shining tin can/ crown/ on the fencepost before
target practice/ I am the stitch in time identifying as nine/ I identify
as the egg/ I am the chicken/ I come first/ as the watched pot/
that cannot boil/ I identify as the crook

in the long arm of the law/ I identify as a hand/ sliding/ into the back pocket/
of your economy/ invisibly/ I am a buried thorn/ identifying as my side/ as a bounty
of fruits/ as a ballet flash mob/ as poorly scripted slapstick
perpetually falling/ as the cane/ and the bowler hat

the mustache/ as the constellation of freckles/ as the red wax lips/ pressed
to your cheek/ I identify as an unprecedented increase/ as a corn kernel/ the whole
cob/ husk bundled/ and the green strings that bind it/ I identify as the pack

not a girl/ or a lamb/ I identify as a circle of salt/ and my pronouns
are anew/ again/ smarting in cold
water/ gulping/ yes

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Eileen Winn is an agender poet working on their MFA at Florida Atlantic University while also editing at Swamp Ape Review and Alien Lit Mag. You can find their work at Purpled Palm Press in the Breakup Book, bone & ink press and elsewhere. Without purple pens, much of their work would not exist.