Poetry by Rebecca Gomezrueda

              renee. CC



The caterpillar experiences total liquefaction 
  
when girls turn eighteen they pick at themselves until they ooze 
trying to find a second skin or the remains of a chrysalis 
  
something to shed, something to break through 
proof that the transformation wasn’t all in our heads 
  
when I was eighteen what I wanted was to drive men into the ground 
stakes to hold me up, to push me towards the sun 
  
Lilith’s phototactic child wanting all of it 
because she was horrified to find that she wanted none of it 
  
girls are liquid at that age       
I fear we remain so until we know what we want 
  
and can admit to what we don’t 
I will start by saying I would be happy if you never touched me again 
  
I will start by saying I never felt solid under your hands 
I will start by saying no 


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Rebecca Gomezrueda is a Philadelphia area writer. Her short stories and poems have appeared in journals such as The Drabblecast, Sledgehammer Lit, The Orchards Poetry Journal, and Trouvaille Review among others. She is also the playwright of The Clinic, a short play that premiered in the 2019 Philadelpha Fringe Festival with Lone Brick Theatre Company.

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