Poetry by Clayre Benzadón

              ​Alan Gradilla CC


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Halsey’s Interlude



 I’d like to be wrung out               a bit more

                I want a fist                  around my throat

Can you hold my full head          in your hand

               I want everything                    I asked for

                  that means                                    you

                  I want power,                         If I can’t have
          
            a clementine, let me             smash  the worst

                (sorry) honey               willowleaf lily, castle

         crammed of night/mares       grave/yards stuffed

             monarchs   nymphalidae    common tiger  wanderer 

                                                             nympho

                            I’m not a woman                 I’m a queen

                                         who needs                 (no) god

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Clayre Benzadón received her MFA at University of Miami. She is a Split Lip Magazine poetry reader and Broadsided Press’s Instagram editor. Her chapbook, “Liminal Zenith” was published by SurVision Books. She was awarded the Alfred Boas Poetry Prize for "Linguistic Rewilding" and her full-length collection, "Moon as Salted Lemon" was a finalist for the 2021 Robert Dana-Anhinga Poetry Prize and Semifinalist for Sundress Publications' Open Reading Period. She has been published in places including 14poems, SWWIM, Fairy Tale Review, ANMLY, and forthcoming in Grist Journal. You can find more about her at clayrebenzadon.com.