The Last Night Before I Bleed
Disappearing wings made from the milky
way while rose buds bloom under my shirt.
Sleepy sweet tears streak into
snot freezing in my wind-blown
hair.
& I’ll forget
the drawer full of clean underwear.
Cradled between dolls & boys will be
boys skinned knees—all the same.
A body still void of stories.
In the morning, blood on the
sheets like a war without warning.
Sunbeams cascade through
clouds. With my belly on a boat
& head in the bathroom—
whispering in the mirror:
Don’t be scared of motherhood
or the absence of fathers.
Marissa Forbes (she/her) is a writer of all genres. She is an art and writing teacher for creative nonprofits in Colorado, a poetry Instructor for Community Literature Initiative, and the Managing Editor of Twenty Bellows. She was awarded an Author Fellowship from MVICW in 2021 and since 2020 has published numerous short stories and poems in literary journals internationally, which are found on www.marissforbes.com. Her full length collection, Bridging the Gap: Poems & Ethos for Emily Warren Roebling is slated for publication in October 2023 from Finishing Line Press. Forbes lives a colorful life in Denver, Colorado with her two children, dog, and cat. Follow her on Instagram: @word_nerd_ris.
South Broadway Ghost Society 