Poetry: Two Poems by Aja St. Germaine

how to be kwe

when surgeon unzips epidermis to reveal rotting
feminine flesh vacated feign consternation

bat butch eyelashes eroticize me
at my unbecoming she demands woman

to suckle leave her to starve
shouts what about breastfeeding babies

kwe is the matriarch feeds her family
provide consequences of motherhood

stick cookie cutter nipples on my chest
like lisa frank rejects doctor

render me useless in holographic
she-devil of starving the hypothetical

lick pasties like stamps scrapbook them stick
grafts on supple tender skin with tacky hot glue

crochet my intercostal nerves in floral pattern
cross stitch connective tissue to ribcage

 

will you still call me kwe

cross stitch connective tissue to ribcage
crochet my intercostal nerves in floral pattern

grafts on supple tender skin with tacky hot glue
lick pasties like stamps scrapbook them stick

she-devil of starving the hypothetical
render me useless in holographic

like lisa frank rejects doctor
stick cookie cutter nipples on my chest

provide consequences of motherhood
kwe is the matriarch feeds her family

shouts what about breastfeeding babies
to suckle leave her to starve

at my unbecoming she demands woman
bat butch eyelashes eroticize me

feminine flesh vacated feign consternation
when surgeon unzips epidermis to reveal rotting

 

About Aja St. Germaine

Aja St. Germaine (they/them) is a genderqueer butch interested in queer decolonial liberation through literary praxis. They graduated magna cum laude in May of 2022 with a Bachelor of Arts in Critical Studies English and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, where they served as the editor of the university’s queer student-led zine, OUT., and student-edited Dr. Debra Barker’s “Post-Indian Aesthetics: Affirming Indigenous Literary Sovereignty” published with Arizona Press in 2022. St. Germaine is a Ronald E. McNair scholar, and was awarded the Kirkwood Formal Poetry Award, Outstanding Queer Student Leader Award, and the Chandra Talpade Mohanty Award by the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. They are currently interning for Honey Literary, a 501(c)(3) BIPOC women and femme literary arts organization founded by Dr. Dorothy Chan and Dr. Rita Mookerjee.

Socials:
Instagram: @ajast.germaine
Twitter: @ajastgermaine

Previous
Previous

Hybrid: “The Bimbofication of Grief” by Angel Leyba

Next
Next

Hybrid: “DIY MISTRANSLATIONS OF FAYE WONG’S ‘NI KUAI LE (SUO YI WO KUAI LE)’” by Shay X. Gee