TW: references/allusions to self-harm

shaving

Only now— in the last
act of gender— I am grasping
your art: Schick for broad
strokes; Fusion, the fine
detail, appropriate
softness, almost on-
omatopoeia. The care
of matching direction
of cut to the weft
your face is threading; a Fate
quitting her job, saying the light
has gone out of it … How
easy it is to take your eye
off, to slice it to celebratory
ribbons, to tie around a may-
tree, wicker man burning
in the background of the frame.

About the author

josie/jocelyn Suzanne is a freelance writer/would be translator. Their work has appeared in The Suburban Review, Rabbit journal, Australian Poetry Journal and Overland, among others. In 2021 they were one of the recipients of the Ultimo Prize for poetry and the Harri Jones memorial prize. They are a genderqueer transfemme. They live on unceded Wurundjeri land.

Photo by Helen Barth on Unsplash.