Of the chameleon’s dish

When he shyly asked me to read his short
story about a giraffe giving birth,
I wanted to be his giraffe. Does that
answer your question of kiss, marry, kill?

When I pin down my moods like the frozen
fig wasp corpses she stashed in her purse at
the tropical bar, do the cobwebs of
hatred between them form perfect funnels?

When the vampire devoured the soles of
my feet, the top of my head came off,
and what self-respecting American
would admit to that kind of poetry?

When something extinct rears its gorgeous head,
is it so wrong to be a god of doors?

About the author

Zoe Korte is a mad & queer poet whose work has appeared in Maudlin House, new words {press}, Frontier Poetry, & more. They reside on Peoria & Osage land with their partner & two tortoiseshell cats. You can find them on Instagram @zoekpoetry or Bluesky @mostlymosspoetry.

Photo by Tirza van Dijk on Unsplash.