Whelm

at night your carpet swallows,
and i could use a stomach to dissolve in.

mom found the Victoria Secret magazines stuffed under
the driver’s seat of your car,

and soon she’ll find the pudding
in my closet.

we’d be better off as paper girls.
swimming with paper fishes.

the way we’d bend,
effortlessly over toilets.

flat-bellied and still puking.
this is your legacy.

and mine to crouch and watch.
to pull your spidery hair from the shower drain.

to melt palms into your shoulder blades,
feel the soft accumulation of almost fur.

to trace your veins and play piano
on your back.

we’d be better off as paper women.
swimming with paper whales.

this is such a stiff
existence,

and already your stomach is
creaking from a night with the wrong pills.

i’ve never seen someone snap
so slowly.

it’s as if you were made of
something even thinner.

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Allegra studied creative writing at Interlochen arts academy. This year, she will be attending Sarah Lawrence to study poetry, screenwriting, and film more closely. Her work can be found in the Interlochen Review, an online journal.