Consider the (Thigh) Gap
This is a high-touch
industry. We need to use
all of our resources. Templatize
our efforts. Assemble and sort
our colors.
Let me be
your fitness regimen.
Again, we have some good
learnings here.
A little tighter now.
It’s okay if you want
to breathe. Whenever.
When always equals
twice.
~*~
Sympathetic Magic
It does not matter where
we are in the world.
Wrapped in a sheer term
of endearment, the doll — made of roots
and grains and waxed — represents
a person made of cloth
and clay and hard fruits.
She chokes when lodged
in the chimney. She dreams
a pink princess pierces her,
wakes with each nerve
electrically charged.
This is the secret.
The bewitching focus.
Attempting intent.
No one is
hanging here.
Jenna Cardinale is the author of a chapbook, A California (DGP, 2017). Some of her poems appear in Reality Beach, Pith, Verse Daily, and Cosmonauts Avenue. She lives in Brooklyn, NY.
Featured image by Jona Fine.
Punch Drunk Press 