after Jessica Kallista’s collage exhibit: “Dear Suburbia” Fairfax, VA

Nothing is easy with this baby doll burnt

face but I want to lick molded bones,

imprint my mind on a face like a

little pig tailed gargoyle girl

Leave her in the woods for weeks

burn her with amalgams.

Let her catch the ash from the grill pit

puppy masticate the forearms

I’ll perpetuate this crime

against plastic life forms

Close that other eye

the one that never closes

stop staring at me, witnessing

my day time drama.

Always wide, always looking

for blue skies, the sunny side up

a way to end it, to begin again

fresh as a Barbie out of the box.

Jennifer MacBain-Stephens is the author of two full length poetry collections: Your Best Asset is a White Lace Dress,(Yellow Chair Press, 2016) and The Messenger is Already Dead, (forthcoming from Stalking Horse Press, 2017.) Recent work can be seen at Lime Hawk, concis, decomp, Sea Foam Magazine, and Inter/rupture. Visit: http://jennifermacbainstephens.wordpress.com/