Poetry by Ashlee Craft

     keico CC



​
rust

I waited for you to see my worth
but you never did–

you left me on the ground
at a time when I didn’t know how to be anything else
than a ripped page from a book,

discarded & abandoned in light of brighter pleasures,
preferring raw material to that
which was already sculpted in your image

but I am no longer yours now;
you gave up your title long ago

in your absence I have learned to brush the rust from my skin
& polish myself like the finest silver,
& have learned this is an act of love worth doing

​


Ashlee Craft (he/they) is a writer, multimedia artist, photographer, actor, & more based in Tampa, Florida. Their work often explores themes such as surrealism, nostalgia, gender, queerness, mental health, neurodivergence, and identity through symbolism, storytelling, & color.