I Am Shirtless on My Fathers Armchair & He’s Eyeing the Crossbow

by Rayn Page Valleau

I am tired of being the soft thing—

the throw pillow the chaise the marbled loaf

the butter square the silkworm the daughter

I am tired of being the sacred thing—

the Virgin the clairvoyant the Diazepam

the bunker the Pomeranian the child

lemme be untethered—

lemme become the Blue Nose Pitbull

draggin’ the fractured fence post

down Satinwood St like’ a morningstar

lemme be the weapon—

slobber bathed & glistenin’

I ain’t gonna go to no kill shelter

lemme maim & disfigure

give ‘ya a taste of my shock collar

I got a riot clawing crawling up this throat—

I aint fucking sorry

for my bark my bite my piss in your Skechers

quit calling me good girl

Rayn Page Valleau is a graduate student, queer poet and Mixner Fellow. They are in their thesis semester at CCNY for their MFA in creative writing. Rayn aspires to be a poetry therapist and creative writing professor, with a focus on Trans and Nonbinary poetics, and plans to pursue their PhD in creative writing.