flocks

by Anya Jane Perez

the ego reminds you 

if you don’t have a family you are worthless 

even without promotion 

you see this in your kitchen 

the once place to visually confront it 

is staring at yourself in the mirror 

so the table lessens the blow 

more hot tea and a tear or two 

but i’m truly just 

watching the history of the table 

the meetings held here 

appearing as different places on earth 

we all have a hand placed down 

facing one another other 

the only good thing about summers at the table 

is wearing less clothes for myself 

then i lift my hand to move my hair behind my ears 

removing my heart but not my trace 

as the visits gradually overlap 

by continent 

you can hear a rock crack in the distance 

after a meeting

Anya Jane Perez is a 23-year-old multi-media artist from Washington State. She is a transgender woman who specializes in poetry while partaking in visual art, voice work, and fiction writing often pertaining to the interests of queerness and the material world.