Call me "Other" 
and I'll seal myself inside the 
cardboard refrigerator box
like a sarcophagus. 

You watched me peel off my
earrings by the side of the stream--
laid them to rest on the knuckles of the rocks--
in my knee high socks that
reach the moon--
I had worn the inside out overcoats of the dogbane
beetles-- undid my lips like snap
peas--
hung them on the trees for you 
to see I was never a girl
with cactus flower knees--
I'm makin a plea for my guilt
I've only ever been like a rock--
who tried to wear lipstick that always
turned blue in the sun like my blood
--got sick off absinthe and apologies
for trying to be something other than
your hourglass--do you think I'll pass 
for a Pharaoh or will they call me
princess
call me alien-- call me A.I.
I'm not a lie-- just the spoon that holds
the sunset--
the wet canvas shoes in the shallows 
of the stream where you still fish for 
my earrings and my virginity--  
fill my mouth with sand and tell me how
many minutes I can hold my
breath underwater--
like a knuckle-- like manikin face--
could you wrap me in enough lace
to make me a woman-- tie the apron
strings and tell me to make pot roast
but I'll always be a breakfast sprite--
Flip pancakes in the crock pot
make love to me on the toast medallions
from the birds-in-a-nest-- still singing 
like morning doves in the pan--
you remember I don't cook with oil.
I don't cook meat because it reminds
me too much of my own thighs--
did you hear me sigh when you
called me "lady, little miss,
the girl with pussy willows growing 
from her legs"
Put me in the box and remember I was always
a Pharaoh. Don't call me princess
I have enough honey collected
in the bottom of my tea cups for both of 
us-- I'm not a lie-- I'm the space
between your fingers where you're holding a pen--
write my name is "Sarah," and 
I didn't need to be a queen to rule Egypt--
kiss the dogbane beetles I wedged in my knuckles.
And the coffin is only a refrigerator box--
but remember my socks reach the moon. 

My gender is a sunset spoon-- hold
me steady-- I tip like an hourglass