Lizard Brain

how embarrassing of you / to have so many goddamn mouths /

each one full / of unclaimed paper receipts /

spilling out of their grocery store self-checkout dispensers

aimlessly / matthew david / you sweetheart / are you telling me

you can’t possibly spell goodness without god /

you act like intersex folk are the titanic / and not the iceberg /

it pains me to tell you / it is quintessentially the opposite /

nobody’s gonna read a book / about missing chromosomes /

hello it’s 2021 / and we’re craving stories that’re complete /

how do you not know how to swallow pills / how do you not

know how to swim / how do you not know how to be anything /

but unemployed / can’t you call yourself something / other

than smoke in a swollen throat / just because your mother

is anaphylactic / doesn’t mean you are too / go back to therapy /

get a job / eat more fiber / i will not call you intersex / because

i don’t like that word very much / it doesn’t roll off the tongue

like busted does / matthew david / you’re not gonna win the pulitzer /

you’re never gonna be best in show / you’re never gonna win

miss america / you are just a person / quit trying to be anything more /

please stop listening to the stranger / it’s not even a masterpiece /

how can you liken that gut to stained glass / you will never be that

beautiful / stop reaching for the light / you will never be tall enough /

how can you be so mad / when you should be grateful / we don’t

call you a dickless fat fuck anymore / it took you four years /

to get a writing degree / just so you could bitch and moan /

about your genetic pussy / your book is all lies and fabrications /

it doesn’t have to be like this / quit victimizing yourself / you’re just soft /

you know while you were trying to be a “neon” “hollywood”

“cowboy” / the bad men were erasing your brothers and sisters /

look i love you / and i’m proud of all that you’ve accomplished /

but matthew david i swear / if the garden of eden fell

right into your lap / you’d probably fuck around and wound it

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MATT MITCHELL is an intersex Northern Appalachian writer living in Columbus, Ohio. He wrote The Neon Hollywood Cowboy (Big Lucks, 2021) and tweets @matt_mitchell48.