Poetry by Keagan Gay

​Kimmo Räisänen CC



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Anorexia Has Six Legs Or Wasting Disease 


The wound, that was my chest, reeks 
of brine 
and all the other clotted pieces 
the water lost, when it 

pulled away. Star shaped beings writhe 
on the sand as they feast 
on their own bodies, remembering, when 
they too, were a part of the sky. Now, the only 

constellation they have any claim to 
is the white froth 
coating the tidepool of my tongue. Blood 
tearing flesh and sculpting 

a sharper coastline. Supposedly, wasting 
is a disease. Somewhere, my name 
is added to the list 
of countless biologists, waiting 

with crossed fingers 
for the temperatures to change. For the sun’s 
rays to warm the surf enough to stop 
the spread of the virus. Though, warmer 

weather won’t bring a species back 
from the dead. My mind, creates patterns 
from the fragmentation, circling, caught 
in the tide. Why must nature play games with 

extinction? Soon, this body will be 
unrecognizable. My bones, dissolving 
like stars on the storm surge. Now, so deficient 
in calories that nothing will grow 

on the coastline. Nature is 
rhythmic. It is too easy 
to destroy 
an ecosystem with a single bad habit. 





Seaweed For Lunch 


There is no reason that the roof of my mouth 
cannot also be, an ocean. If only for a little 
while. My bloodstream, crashing 

up against a hollow coastline. Causing 
the shake. I tilt my chin upwards 
to swallow 

the raindrops. Letting in 
the storm surge. Photosynthesize 
on the back patio and pray the turbulent swell 

will make me full. Instead, I watch the skin 
on my knuckles turn 
green. Blending in with the rock, or, fading 

away. ​




Keagan Gay is a current teaching student at WGU, a seasonal nature camp instructor, and an aspiring poet. Her collections focus primarily on describing her experiences with body image, gender, and trauma through the lens of environmental science. Exploring how our experiences mirror what is naturally occurring in the wilds that surround us. Nature, as a form of language. 
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