Honey-Girls

Note: this poem is best viewed on larger screens

the eyes followed me
with their saccharine solicitations
until I was ripe for the picking
once a man decided I wasn’t broken enough
the pieces dried up between his fingers
everyone knows the story
there is always a lover
or a loneliness
unbridled in growth
another takes his place sure as
a woman
for a lifetime

like a bee starved for honey
until the time was right
I became a woman
and snapped my body in two
crushed petals in the pages of a book
every woman has a story
a father
at the root
whenever one leaves
a season
will drip nectar
and die by the sweetness

---

Verna Zafra-Kasala was born in the Philippines, but was raised and lives in the Pacific island of Guåhan (Guam). Her debut poetry microchapbook, Rites of Passing, is forthcoming from Porkbelly Press (2022). She is a water sign, an animal lover, and a semi-professional napper.