Sophia Tempest Parsons: 3 Poems

Alexandra

swallowing a glass piano
if I move
it will shatter into pieces
I am
mimicking your death

God, if you’re listening
if you hear me
it’s over

the interpretation of dreams (2019)

I am nursing a newborn,
I can feel the milk being pulled from my body
like blood through an IV
it hurts, and I resent it
for doing this to me

I take the baby to the doctor;
a routine checkup
the father, an unknown face
is very concerned
we say he is doing fine,
developing normally
meeting all his age-appropriate
milestones

the doctor performs the physical as usual
but I can tell
that he can tell
my baby’s belly
is filled only with cotton
his chubby little legs
are plastic, hollow
the doctor stops, looks at me
do you want me to keep doing this?

I breathe a sigh of relief. no,
we don’t have to keep doing this

thanksgiving 

(CW: animal cruelty)

my grandma used to raise pigs in arkansas
horrible creatures, she says, can’t stand em

she gets teary eyed
remembering the day her brother
shot one in the barn
and all the others rushed over
to eat the body​

but what else were they supposed to do?
I mean,
what else could they do?​

Sophia Tempest is a poet based in Austin, Texas. Her work has appeared in Metatron, Honey & Lime, Lammergeier, and others. Her debut chapbook, A LAMB HANGS BY ITS OWN FOOT, was released with Ghost City Press in 2019