Two Poems by Emily Perkovich
Birth as a Trauma
my daughter holds me under water, and I wonder whose fists these are, choke me like you mean
it, I ache in the pit, burnt through like the after-math, holding still is not an option, the thrashing
is born on the waves of thrashing, is this the way the cradled waist becomes the strangled throat,
is this the acid reaching from inside, is this the discomfort of living inside myself, I want out too,
I want to be the exit, wet drips between legs, the water crimsons, I want in shades of scarlet
May Crowning
Dry earth splits with repulsion
There is a paradox in the crying shame that a dehydrated cell forgets how to soak
It’s a crying shame that any devil can conceive an awakening
I’m comparing swelling to an eviction
There is a paradox to—
I never wanted an open plot until one was thrust upon me
I watched an orchid blossom beneath the hem of my skirt
And I’ll tell you what
It’s in the petals unfurling that I fall in love
A tendril scrapes me clean
And, I do
I fall in love
I am the chasm
I am the crimson rush we love to forget
I am in love with the building up of an orchid
Until all I want is open plots
Twelve summers can tarnish the bed
And I’ll tell you what
A finger buds slower than an atrium
I water the blooms with a blood-letting
Next summer, there’s always next summer
And still the new orchids weep
Emily Perkovich (she/her) is a writer and artist from the Chicago area. Perkovich is the editor-in-chief of Querencia Press, a poetry reader with Split Lip Mag, and on the Women in Leadership Advisory Board with Valparaiso University. Her work strives to erase the stigma surrounding trauma victims and their responses. She is a Best of the Net nominee, a SAFTA scholarship recipient, and has previously published with Horror Sleaze Trash, Harness Magazine, Rogue Agent, Coffin Bell Journal, and Awakenings among others. She is the author of the poetry collections Godshots Wanted: Apply Within (Sunday Mornings at the River), The Number 12 Looks Just Like You (Finishing Line Press), baby, sweetheart, honey (Alien Buddha Press), and Manipulate Me, Babe—I Trust You (GutSlut Press) as well as the novella Swallow.