Aposematism
Helen Robertson is a genderqueer trans woman moving through the lifelong process of accepting how lucky they’ve been, using poetry to excise their ire and sorrow—hopefully turning it into something worthwhile. They have been published in Bywords, CV2, and have work forthcoming in The New Quarterly. They are the secretary for Tree Reading Series.
I have neither poison nor venom
And fight or flight becomes false dichotomy
When your choice is always the same.
I’ll wrap myself in Batesian mimicry —
See these spikes, see these stitches,
See these trappings of a bitch
With whom you do not fuck?
I want to fake it till I make it.
I want to make affectation true.
I want to wear my outside in.
Helen Robertson is a genderqueer trans woman moving through the lifelong process of accepting how lucky they’ve been, using poetry to excise their ire and sorrow—hopefully turning it into something worthwhile. They have been published in Bywords, CV2, and have work forthcoming in The New Quarterly. They are the secretary for Tree Reading Series.