Leviathan

so the poet tells me i’m the smartest girl he knows
the poet tells me i’m the kind of girl men can’t help but fall in love with,
sings me sea shanties, poet reads books to me all night,

so the poet tells me that everyone lies about him,
the poet tells me people hate him, talk about him as a bad man, this leviathan
poet calls this is “redemption arc”
poet falls in love with the way i see him as a gleaming deity,
some greek testament to willpower.

poet drowns me in subtext like the damsels in all his poems.
poet says he is not the sea monster he looks like in the night.

poet does not pull the seaweed out of my throat
makes joke about what “consensual” really is.

i talk to other poets about the way he hurts us
the way everyone lets him.

his writing was so beautiful
no one notices that the pages were all drowning.

By Dorothy McGinnis

Biography:

A poet from Salt Lake City, Utah, Dorothy does her best as much as she can and also confirms she is definitely not twenty two very small baby ducks disguised as a 19-year-old woman. Dorothy has represented Salt Lake and Sugar house at the National Poetry Slam (2016, 2017) the International World Poetry Slam (2017), the College Union Poetry Slam Invitational (2017), and has been chosen as the representative for the 2018 Women of the World Poetry Slam. Dorothy teaches poetry at Skyline High School, a role she loves. Her work has been seen in the Rising Phoenix Press, Feminist Thread, and the her two chapbooks, titled “On Becoming a Volcano” and “O Bless Rivers Even When they want to Overflow.” Her work has been nominated for Sundress Press’ Best of the Net and the Pushcart Prize.