The shape of my body
was made by the mouth chewing on it.
I was other people’s spit
landing on my face.
Now I break jaws
my insides rainbow and forever.
Keep me on your purple tongue.
I will not be swallowed like an afterthought snack.
I’m the dinner table
the three course meal
and the three hours you’ll carve
out of your schedule
Ben Otto Vock is a non-binary poet from Jersey City, New Jersey. They’ve had their work featured on NJ.com and published in the Plum Creek Review. They’ve interned as a teaching artist at Urban Word NYC. “A Boy Pulls Out Their Rib and Uses it for Lipstick” is their most recent collection of work that tackles the intersection of being transgender and an abuse survivor as well as how one heals from trauma and violence caused by the world around them. Give them a shout at [email protected] for a copy or just to talk about queer identity and poetry.