Poetry By Stella Gleitsman

JenavieveMarie CC




Crow 

The first ring I got was a crow’s skull from my mother

it had, 
meaning

it was, 
not old enough 
to be crumbling 

wearing it,
I waited for the day 
it stuck to me
and I was bird too
half-flighting
and precise
open to wind

red and courage
bent like a tree root
constantly 
showing my skeleton 

I wore it all the time
I liked how it jutted
I really enjoyed 
how it hurt 

as I typed
as I played mercy
and fawned 
over my day

it made me feel
very
unsoft
historied 

like I fell here straight 
from a mountain 
from a basket of cords
traded in a gray
bespoke market
where women held a baby
in their heads

it made me feel
decadent
my feet liked 
the rhythm 

if I could’ve been born anything else, 
I would’ve liked to have been born 
a collar bone
I would have liked to be 
a flat penny

there is no day that comes to me where I am not at odds 
with my blanket

my eyeliner makes me feel

octagonal, 

crow

I layer it 
against the ridge of my eye
to become more 
under-earthly 

it is justified
to be angular 

it is correct
to be jagged
to deplete rivers

only crack
only one long planet  
of edge

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Notebook, Guitar, Unicorn Key-Chain 

Please / Pleo / Cleo / Pluto / Maybe / Mercy
My rack of
Note paper
Black and pink like my hiccups
Killed in a simple move
Over a winter
That made sway
Hid me in hay

I spilt everything 
Down those rhino milks
The paper my only 
Community that day
Wafting me with sand
Prayer sand
Tomato bead
Calling me beautiful
Saying I’m sorry 

Heart / Rock / Bastion
My guitar
That buried crosses in my 
Yard. That lifted me out of 
Fucking hell. My guitar,
A sighing maybe 
A goganol might. A goblin golfing course
Running at me
Bruising me 
Like 
It makes me mighty 
It controls me
My withholding island

Princess / Horse love / Horse blood / Pillow girl
Groomed and purring
So femme and glory god
My furry woman 
I wear double tooth 
So sparkly and wretcher
Wrestler insight 
Unicorn key 
She makes me so kind
She makes me so kind 
We marry each other 




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​Stella Gleitsman (they/she/he) is a poet and artist from the Lower East Side of New York. They make zines and artist books.
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