Poetry by Sophie Farthing

     Dane CC


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Tweezing the Wood Tick

I can separate like oil and water
the body daddy takes apart with his eyes sometimes
is a stringy cut of steak
Walmart New York strip
I push my voice out
when I ask to go to Doctor Vickie instead 
mommy doesn’t even hear
but that’s not me that’s asking
you understand
I can separate spoiled flesh from 
my warm and scarlet soul
purple pansy kitten
roses velvet grand old oaks
gray horse nuzzling my neck
feather-light and it sparkles!
I can separate 
mommy’s worried frown
daddy's scowling breath is hot on someone else’s hip
the brand new pubes aren’t mine
that he is seeing
harsh light on the bed
polka dot panties down around the knees
daddy tweezes the wood tick
from someone else’s secret place
they play operation and 
I separate
I watch them from the ceiling
pale rose cotton puffs
Lucky Charms in milk
sly Arctic fox I am
invisible apart
a free creature fluttering
through virgin snow

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Sophie Farthing (she/her) is an emerging queer writer living in South Carolina. Her work is forthcoming or has appeared in outlets such as Beyond Queer Words, Impostor Journal, orangepeel Magazine, and Querencia Press.