Family Property” - Ariel Hirschhorn

Family Property Ariel Hirschhorn‘22

DUMPED! Tumbled out through an open window sitting ass-backward on the shifty grass that asks too many questions. A truck lets out a low rumble: the remnants of yesterday's supper (hot corn meal) chewed and grinded up into a viscous soup.

I’m gonna be a debutante cascade that old wooden staircase each rickety step’s gonna make my ankles quake so I’ll snap my heels off and eat them

I’ll melt down the salad fork into a silver pendant that hangs hot around my breasts swinging rhythmically like my father's footsteps

I’m gonna need a new dress, though all I have is spit-shine and closed teeth that grit brightly under the desert sand

34 I return to the open window, FXUWDLQVÁXWWHULQJOLNH two lips under breath I’ll sew my dress outta those