Poetry
Strelitzia or bird of paradise
by Noemi Mangialardi
by Noemi Mangialardi
She is a strelitzia and her hair is like so
she says bite me as if she were a succulent
and I am incredibly nervous so I bite my guts instead
she then asks me what do I taste like
I tell her the salt is burning my mouth
the girl’s disappointed
and licks my tongue to see what all the fuss is about
her laugh, abrupt, is chewed gum
how it sticks on all those feelings one does not want to share
plants are bitches, is another thing she says
water-based attention-cravers, bitches
I mean, are they?
or am I an exceptionally good neglector?
I can see that we share the same thirst
our feet cutting through the dirt in the wasteland
are tired and swollen
yet, they keep on digging
well, humans are attention-seekers too, nothing new
and they perish just as good
is how I respond
her leaves and my fingers break in the same way
we give up, eventually
and waste our last breath onto each other
she says bite me as if she were a succulent
and I am incredibly nervous so I bite my guts instead
she then asks me what do I taste like
I tell her the salt is burning my mouth
the girl’s disappointed
and licks my tongue to see what all the fuss is about
her laugh, abrupt, is chewed gum
how it sticks on all those feelings one does not want to share
plants are bitches, is another thing she says
water-based attention-cravers, bitches
I mean, are they?
or am I an exceptionally good neglector?
I can see that we share the same thirst
our feet cutting through the dirt in the wasteland
are tired and swollen
yet, they keep on digging
well, humans are attention-seekers too, nothing new
and they perish just as good
is how I respond
her leaves and my fingers break in the same way
we give up, eventually
and waste our last breath onto each other
About the Author:
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Noemi Mangialardi (she/her) is a 24-year old Italian woman who's currently studying foreign languages in Milan. She loves using her poetry to question the world and what her queerness means to her. Her poems have appeared in Velvet Fields Magazine, Bloom Magazine, and Bullshit Literary Magazine. Besides her silly little studies and her silly little poems, she loves theater and baking. |
