Little God Sings for the Unborn

Written By Avni Vyas
Artwork by Mimi Cirbusova

Artwork by Mimi Cirbusova

Though you never made it to
this side of the underworld,
know I dream of you
as my sister.

Even now, you share my wardrobe,
teach me the cold blade of a
well-placed, “So what?”

You slip whiskey in my cola,
calculate a real bra size, lament
hair-glitter, man-buns, animal cruelty.

You draw a bath and say,
”Haven’t you seen a woman
love herself before?”
when you know I haven’t.

I hear you mock my dates at family dinner,
hissing, “Now what?”

You wait for me in the bathroom mirror,
wearing our face on its silver surface,
until I say, “We become, my bird.”

Avni Vyas

Avni Vyas is a poet living and writing in Florida. Her poetry and nonfiction can be found in journals such as Grist, Meridian, The Pinch, Juked, Crab Orchard Review, Better Magazine, Arts and Letters, Rigorous Magazine, and others. With Anne Barngrover, she is the co-author of the chapbook Candy in Our Brains (CutBank 2014). She is the Essays editor at Honey Literary, and poetry editor at The Offending Adam. She teaches in the Writing Program at New College of Florida. You can visit her on Instagram (@singstoosloud) and Twitter (@AvniDangerfield).

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