Because no one sees me I go
to work high. I go there naked.
I go nowhere and upward all
at once. I take my hands and twist
a joint. I grip all my fat rolls
because no one sees me. I go
huge! I stand next to a flower
pot and squat to piss and no one
notices—I’m invisible
to you and you and you and just
because no one sees me I go
along with it. The sky turns black
with it. The trees kill leaves for it.
My nails rip my eyes with it, rip
my tongue. I’m so clawed and I’m stoned.
Because no one sees me I go.
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Stephanie Rogers grew up in Middletown, Ohio. She was educated at The Ohio State University and the University of Cincinnati, and her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in journals such as Ploughshares, Tin House, Cincinnati Review, Georgia Review, Copper Nickel, and New Ohio Review, as well as the Best New Poets anthology (2013, 2009, and 2006). Her first collection of poems, Plucking the Stinger, was published by Saturnalia Books, and her second collection, Fat Girl Forms, is forthcoming from Saturnalia Books in 2021.
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Charles J. March III is a quasi-writer, pseudo-musician, and counterfeit-artist currently living in California. His pieces have appeared in such places as the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, in the toilet, and in the trash. Last year he poured his blood, sweat, and tears into Blood Tree Literature’s hybrid contest, and wound up winning third place. PBS once contacted him regarding his work, but it didn’t work out.
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