i am not your golden goose
After “The Fairies (Or Diamonds and Toads)” by the Brothers Grimm.
blessings can be curses
and curses blessings in
trenchcoats and sunglasses and
slick black Indochino suits
of that which gleams
in sunlight, there are opals
smooth as a mouse, there are
diamonds sharp as ferrofluid—if
it were a true solid.
i am the latter:
i am simultaneously blessed
and cursed. i have a speed
boost in mario kart while ink
in stains my racing goggles.
the good news is men
want me, but the bad news is
men want me
to be their golden goose, their ego boost that
i am not;
and i
fall every time
and curses blessings in
trenchcoats and sunglasses and
slick black Indochino suits
of that which gleams
in sunlight, there are opals
smooth as a mouse, there are
diamonds sharp as ferrofluid—if
it were a true solid.
i am the latter:
i am simultaneously blessed
and cursed. i have a speed
boost in mario kart while ink
in stains my racing goggles.
the good news is men
want me, but the bad news is
men want me
to be their golden goose, their ego boost that
i am not;
and i
fall every time
September / October, 2022
Rachel Alarcio's work is published or forthcoming in the winnow magazine, Rogue Agent, Wrongdoing Magazine, Exposition Review, at LAX’s Terminal 7-8, and elsewhere. They are a Scholastic Art & Writing Awards Silver Medalist in Short Story. She attends Kalamazoo College. They tweet @rachelalarcio. Their Instagram is @raechillout.
Art: Madge Evers. Anne, Lacemaker. Mushroom spores on Cyanotype.