TWO POEMS by MAYA STAHLER
THE CYBORG &&ME
the cyborg and me we watch the movie
widescreen intercut a dog falls
down, powder soundless
we share Shari’s sugared grape pies
and the cyborg says she feels like
maybe dancing so I softly power
her down pressing and I paint gestures
of marigolds poppythorn flowers
windthings on her still copper shins tilting bone
my original love goddess told me
once about the green man who
sewed a watermuse’s ribbon into his chest
baby blue rayon that girl
had a small name and lived by a river bank
washing herself, placing stones in lines
salmon faces they can always tell
warmth I dip my whole hand into the white paint
I breed taller and longer arms into myself become
a paper maple molting in the middle of the floor
lights beating on the cyborg’s calico face
the cyborg and me we have a secret
code nubile itchy I cup hand pools of paint
water and draw them over her legs breaking
apart the orange paints my stomach my eyes
washing myself staring up at the dark
ceiling fan needling a baby blue
ribbon through the skin in the sunscald
of my chest my mouth charming the king of
salmon lips salmon teeth salmon lips they can tell
the blue dog on screen, yeah she woofs like a bluer dog
FAT CHANCE
I steal rainbow pins from the sewing table fruit
and slide them into
soft fat
my guinea pig’s body
out on the porch
I saw my father hug
his old dirt bike to his body
lift it
onto cinderblocks he rearranges
its insides to make them louder when turned on
I take photographs of my
guinea pig with my game boy advance
she chirps faux porcupinette on the office chair
and my mom is calling me up from California
but it’s summer in the woods
and I can pick pennies and nails up and show
them to my grandpa like a child
crawling underneath the deck to hide from
the man who taught me to fuck
by lying still and curling my fist into chest hair
eventually I will crush my
guinea pig into my chest
a thump of her swollen spine the pins
their colors
I dance doll legged at best
Maya Stahler (she/her) is a poet from Oregon who is currently an MFA candidate at the Iowa Writers' Workshop. Her most recent work appears/is forthcoming in Longleaf Review, Squawk Back, Dialogist, and elsewhere. Twitter: @MayaStahler