I Requires Compensation

Being awake now is animaling me. Go snip at myself, try to make a new picture of it. Twenty-seven hours walk past my open eyes. We are sick of seeing me like this. Look how dirty, how slice, I fool you. The glossy beast. The red lipped animal. The hairy little whore. I brought these legs all the way out here. I painted up for this. Who’s going to give me something? Who’s going to give me something?

Lauren Burgess is a queer writer from New Orleans. She is an MFA student and instructor at Louisiana State University, where she serves as assistant poetry editor at New Delta Review. Her work has appeared in Ellipsis, A Velvet Giant, and is forthcoming in Dreampop. She is a proud recipient of the Ryan Chighizola Memorial Award for poetry.