My gender is gluttony and
I am confusing you, Liebling.
I meant to say consuming you,
bleeding. The words are a mess
in my head. You’re the carnage
I’m scavenging, dead memories
of sweaty bedside water glasses.
How are we sustained
by something invisible that way,
gulping down quickly what quickly
dissembles inside of us,
lost in the dark. Handfuls
of Rückseite, abdomen, Angst.
My gender is eating you soundly,
licking its lips. My gender
never tasted a something so good.
I swallow like a man
/ like an envelope / like a candle
in a dark room — snuff film, developing.
I cannot be translated for you,
monsterchen, misterchen. Urchin-
spiked, my gender has depth to it.
My gender can never be filled.
- Dakota Garilli
Dakota R. Garilli has taught creative writing at Chatham University, the Allegheny County Jail, and the Environmental Charter School in Regent Square. Garilli’s chapbook, Call It Something Different, was a finalist for the 2015 Robin Becker Chapbook Prize and published by Seven Kitchens Press. Garilli’s influences include, but are not limited to, RuPaul, St. Teresa of Avila, and the wrestler Chyna. Garilli lives in Butler. Many writers featured in Chapter & Verse are guests of Prosody, produced by Jan Beatty and Ellen Wadey. Prosody airs every Saturday morning on WESA 90.5 FM.
