the war council & the salon
i was given a tortoiseshell comb,
its frenzied teeth digging for a way in
hard & undeserving of love:
this prom updo i didn’t wear
at one point i took a bone saw,
reclaimed my primordial jaw
naturally,
i wanted openings
a runway
& as it split
the leg of the highest bidder,
skin-tagged & caught
in fishnet, went limp
from the vinyl cracked armchair
i god myself to death
hygiene is electric blue, heavy
menthol, good burn
i’ve felt it before, the heat of
perming solution
i know it’s not a real forever
then, a terrycloth slap
what summer is this, you ask,
you, who waits for partings
then, a terrycloth slap
i god,
i god,
i god
Rachel Stempel is a queer Ukrainian-Jewish poet based in Binghamton, NY.
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