undress  

Zoe Bodzas

it's pronounced zipper             

                                          i wanna be halved

& had by two tenses              

                                       at once, duel lingo

shuttle styx                   

                                        then slip downtown

it’s pronounced ripper                                

                                        around the middle  

pawed apart               

                                        w/ two prong tongs

general anesthesia                      

                                   to be alive     

& dead      

                                   at the same time

diptych w/ buttons                        

                                    & holes o           

holy severing               

                                       of cloth and pore

have you ever                

                                   seen a woman

spill into night                 

                                           & combust at dawn

a caul of tulle      

                                          doused in doom

so caesarean     

                                                         watch me i mother         

myself.