Interpretations

 
In a dream I stab myself in
the face with a toy sword
 
I’m on a bus and hope no one
else on the bus can see me as I
inch the sword out of my body
 
I babysit a child who is actually
a doll covered in glitter
 
and I’m bad at it.
 
A man stands at a podium and tells
the crowd that my father
 
is a rapist and a criminal and
not their best. Objectively true:
 
Not
The Best.
 
I am making a list of ways your fathers
have wronged me. I am reading the list on
a bus and no one can see me.
 
 
 

Originally from central Florida, MJ Santiago currently lives and works in New York. Their work has appeared in Reservoir Lit, Heavy Feather Review, and No, Dear Magazine. Their first chapbook, baby knife, is forthcoming from tenderness, yea in April 2018.