androids have nothing on you ≠ gorgeous ≠ but

beautiful is a word meant for other people ≠ all

candy floss & tulle & ballerina shoes ≠ or maybe

dark liner ≠ & strong silhouette ≠ whatever ≠ it's the

eyes that give the game away ≠ some sort of light ≠

failing to pass their test ≠ leaving you exposed ≠

god ≠ the things we make ≠ ourselves ≠

how wonderful we think ≠ we are ≠ to have created ≠

imagine now ≠ that created Self ≠ digging its thumbs

just far enough in ≠ to blind ≠ Self found it better to be ≠

king in hell ≠ than serving your purpose ≠ & now Self

lives somewhere else ≠ leaving you only ≠ bones &

muscles ≠ but you're lovely ≠ & always were ≠ or will be

now ≠ do you like ≠ our owl? /or anything we've made ≠

ourselves ≠ you used to wear ≠ tights & mary janes ≠ so

prissy & proper ≠ & now you hate skirts ≠ & the soft

quiver of lipsticked lips ≠ we make ≠ & remake ≠ &

remake ≠ becoming palimpsest ≠ & hating it ≠ our old

skin ≠ please efface it ≠ we hope ≠ it burns away ≠ like

tears & rain ≠ or a fiery ship ≠ that the constellations we

understood will be ≠ wiped from the slate of the sky ≠

vanishing in stillness & silence ≠ androids understand how ≠

we make ourselves ≠ over & over ≠ each time more & more

xenic ≠ holding the unnamed ≠ or undiscovered ≠ oh

yes ≠ we know ≠ why androids might want to become ≠

Zeus ≠ powerful ≠ & untouchable ≠ in his lonely heaven

GRETCHEN ROCKWELL (xe/xer) is a queer poet currently living in Pennsylvania. Xe has two microchapbooks, love songs for godzilla (Kissing Dynamite) and Thanatology (Ghost City Press), and xer work has appeared in Glass: A Journal of Poetry, Poet Lore, FOLIO, FreezeRay Poetry, and elsewhere. Gretchen enjoys writing poetry about gender and sexuality, history, myth, science, space, and unusual connections – find xer at gretchenrockwell.com or on Twitter at @daft_rockwell.