from SWALLOW
Kristy Bowen
Truth is, you'd be prettier if you were thinner. Prettier of you smiled. Each night, you
cultivate pretty like a fountain you throw every coin into. Put it in a nightgown and tuck
it into bed. Pretty sleeps like a cat, curled around you, kneading sweetly in your hair.
Soon, you are fucking men who want nothing but softness, but they keep banging up
against your edges and bleeding all over the bed. How they never believed you were real
in the body til they were actually inside it. How one said you were prettier in your
pictures. Prettier on your knees. Prettier if you opened your mouth and yes came out like
a flutter of birds.
A writer and book artist working in both text and image, Kristy Bowen is the author of a number of chapbook, zine, and artist book projects, as well as several full-length collections of poetry/prose/hybrid work, including SALVAGE (Black Lawrence Press, 2016) and MAJOR CHARACTERS IN MINOR FILMS (Sundress Publications, 2015). She lives in Chicago, where she runs dancing girl press and studio.