like goldfinches being watched by the witch’s cursed scarecrow
like a northern star is a nosebleed
dripping plasma dust and magic metal
on the late-night heads of the pool children
like a cattail is a coagulant and also a well-roasted corndog
like a corndog is just a hot dog wrapped in cattail fluff
like the aphoristic mouth of the moon
spoon-feeds the poet
like those hideous hiccups, the giggling ghouls, the extra extreme
of a neon headache, how a brain is a baby
spitting, crying, reaching sucking, smiling, falling asleep
like how a mountain of used up lovers is only one letter away
from being a mountain of used up livers
like the kind of love that is a gold carriage is also a severed toe
like a severed toe is a morsel, a morsel a miniature myth
like the bottom of a lake is the top of a tornado
how the tornado is not a tornado
nor a substitute for something else
but is the bottom of a lake
like how time is just linoleum adhered to past linoleum
Sophie Bebeau is a poet from the small-town city of Green Bay, Wisconsin. Her poems have appeared in Your Impossible Voice, Bear Review, Gulf Stream, and Ode to Dionysus (both forthcoming). Her work has also been nominated for a 2024 Best of the Net award. She has studied Creative Writing at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Writing & Applied Arts at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. She currently works as a freelance writer and designer. You can find her on Instagram and Twitter at @sophiebebeau.