The Contortionist

i wasted all my
best metaphors
on men
such a typical thing
you know
everything is
wasted on them
good intentions
time spent confusing love
& a desperate need for attention
i, empty vessel
i, too full
also broken & leaking
always taking & leaving
never good enough
i’m sorry
not good enough
isn’t the right way to say it
molecularly incorrect
i have cried
every time
a man touched me
before
during
& after
cry when i think of my father dancing with me
a well of tears
to dip my fingers into
too much salt
for any man to swallow
peroxide lovers
my face paling
every passing minute
a deep soul irritant
i can’t take it anymore
the pretending
the grave clothes & the bending
marrowless
contortionist
i have fit into everyone
by being no one

Autumn Echo is a performance poet from Jamestown, NY. After a brief and painful hiatus in all genuine emotion and inspiration, she is once again feeling & writing. Autumn is the creator of Pulse Poetry Slam, a mother, provocateur, and a menace to society as deemed so by her local city council and school board. She was once called Jamestown's underground poet laureate which was a pretty strange attempt at an insult because it's dope as fuck. She hopes you like her poems.