[CW: abuse, self-harm, body image, eating disorders]
check / the crust of a hourglass planet / focus / an Hubble’s eye
view of a hangnail / the sunspots on my back / you ogle
mechanically / rather than lustfully / a reminder that I will fall
like a raw egg / into a giant drop of honey / when I look at you /
a surge of hold-me / drain-me / slingshots me across the room /
expensive flowers & mud in my undies / mean please stop /
a doll-sized black hole & half-moon eyebags / translate as
thank you / my sun sign makes me prone / to starve the weeks
away / until our disjunction / becomes conjunction / Venus
retrograde / explains why I shave my head / every night / & how
my chest big bangs for you
Italo Ferrante (he/him) earned a BA in English Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Warwick. He is currently undertaking an MA in Creative Writing at Lancaster University. To date, his work has been selected for publication by Train River, Nymphs & Thugs, Dreich, Queer Zine, Flash Journal, Reinvention, Poetry Salzburg, Impossible Archetype, Cardiff Review, Sage Cigarettes, Inflections Magazine, Lighthouse, and Orchard Lea Press.
Painting by. Fritz Schwimbeck