Self Portrait at 27 Years
I awake each day in a fever,
think of molting, skin itching,
eyes dry, and ask out loud
to nobody for a process guide
for working through trauma.
Instead I find hand drawn
instructions for filleting a fish,
step by step. (Place the body
of the spine toward your body.
Break the skin first with the tip
of the knife right down the spine.
Then, follow that same line hugging
the tip of the blade to the topside
of the bone and pull the flesh
from the body… ) Stop.
This is not what I wake for,
to molt another, to force the change
of another like I think I know something.
Where is it? I ask again.
Give me the guide for healing. Please.
I awake each day in a fever,
think of molting, skin itching,
eyes dry, and ask out loud
to nobody for a process guide
for working through trauma.
Instead I find hand drawn
instructions for filleting a fish,
step by step. (Place the body
of the spine toward your body.
Break the skin first with the tip
of the knife right down the spine.
Then, follow that same line hugging
the tip of the blade to the topside
of the bone and pull the flesh
from the body… ) Stop.
This is not what I wake for,
to molt another, to force the change
of another like I think I know something.
Where is it? I ask again.
Give me the guide for healing. Please.
Marlo Barrera, 2018
Nonfiction:
Bust article, "We Hear You!: Reclaiming Roe in the South" co-written with Oriaku Njoku, Executive Director of ARC Southeast, January 22, 2016
Bustle article, "What are Abortion Funds and Why are they Important?" - quoted with Kamyon Conner, Josephine Kabambi, and Oriaku Njoku, January 22, 2016
The Advocate article on the EACH Woman Act, July 27, 2015
Bust article, "We Hear You!: Reclaiming Roe in the South" co-written with Oriaku Njoku, Executive Director of ARC Southeast, January 22, 2016
Bustle article, "What are Abortion Funds and Why are they Important?" - quoted with Kamyon Conner, Josephine Kabambi, and Oriaku Njoku, January 22, 2016
The Advocate article on the EACH Woman Act, July 27, 2015
