full disclosure / an inappropriate questionnaire *

(To see the poem in its ideal orientation, use the circular arrow on the top to rotate counterclockwise. The scrollbar on the right can also help you navigate to all pages of the poem.)

Text:

how do women, how do women . . . ?
you know, with no / lead their lives / clasp together like shells / like two halves of the same sea *

when did you know you were . . . ?
strips of skin / you / when does anyone know they’re them / isn’t the self like a monsoon, spilling and spilling where it needs to *

are you two sisters?
yes / oh yes / are you *

do you consider yourself . . . ?
a dog, a simple dog, barking up a nuisance / a fraction on an endless sheet of time / a mythic dimension within a rather overstated reality / a warm kind of pronoun *

have you ever been with a . . . ?
person / woman / man / camera / tv *

where do you hide your . . . ?
bland gestures / poem / paradigm / insignificance *

so who is the man and who is the woman?
so do you remember the cyclops / who was at once son of salt and sand / and at / the receiving end of a burning stick / screeching / like that like that like nothing at all *

is it really necessary to demand so much attention?
is it / is it not / can’t it be both / do not know, no opinion *

what’s your real name?
two-way heart / pulse / inclination / foam-child *

i don’t mind but i don’t need to see . . .
murders, so many murders / the outlines of space / this easy separation / life by way of parable *

how do you know if you have never . . . ?
seen through a troubled lens / transcended / rooted for the antagonist / sliced through your wrists to reveal bone and old inundated structures *

what you call yourself . . . ?
you know, a seer once lived to be both man and woman, and there was nothing they couldn’t answer / stealth survival / a queen, a full-blown queen / a secondhand dichotomy *

have you never really . . . ?
tried to be different / tried to be free / tried to pronounce the hardest names / shattered against rock *

what if this is just . . . ?
a phase / a question / a life / ancient narrative *

* strike out what does not apply

Read more from Issue 18.2.