If we match, message me with what song you would Gone Girl yourself to. Do you like Santigold? Lorde’s new album? Have you ever felt hunted? Or crazy? Have you ever been called crazy? Turn another book/movie adaptation about a woman framing her husband for her own murder into a verb while you’re at it. Does it comfort you? Do you feel something when you picture yourself getting away with running away? I don’t want to tell you about what I’ve gone through. I don’t want to tell you about how I came to be both the loudest and quietest survival tactic. What about Beyoncé? Imagine Gone Girl-ing yourself to a Beyoncé song. Let me know how often you drop the word bitch like a spoon, or a piece of paper. Let me know how often you pick bitch back up off the floor because you are able to. How much do you think a single word is capable of? What do you think your own two hands are capable of? Sorry, I know these aren’t the type of questions you ask when you’re trying to get a date. Let me start over: did you grow up here? What’s your favorite song? Have you ever called yourself a feminist and meant it? Have you ever told a woman in your life that you loved them and meant it?
✱✱✱
| Lydia Havens is a poet, performer, Scorpio moon, and Harry Styles impersonator originally from Tucson, Arizona. Their work has previously been published in Winter Tangerine, Cosmonauts Avenue, and Tinderbox Poetry Journal, among others. They are the author of Survive Like the Water (Rising Phoenix Press, 2017), and the forthcoming chapbook I Gave Birth to All the Ghosts Here (Nostrovia! Press, 2018). They were also a member of Boise's 2017 National Poetry Slam team, which placed 7th at group piece finals. Lydia is currently a sophomore at Boise State University, studying creative writing and history. They were born on their due date, and have been intensely punctual to almost everything since. They exist at www.lydiahavens.com |
