

My pussy tastes like orange juice.
Even better than that good organic
Publix shit, straight from the citrus
tree, peeled with such fervor
you find yourself with sweet slivers
of rind wedged under your fingernails.
I want you to do to me what my windshield does
in love bug season to countless insect bodies:
just fucking wreck me.
There is a roaring in my ears
like the pounding relentless sideways rain
of an Alligator Alley midnight.
Let my hurricane waves crash
upon your shores, outer bands whipping
into a dizzyfrenzied rhythm,
with all the intensity of Michael, Andrew, and Irma—
straining my bedroom windows,
punishing the glass
so gorgeously close
to its shattering point.
Marlee Abbott (they/she) is a woman-shaped entity usually spotted in their native Florida habitat. They received their BA in Creative Writing from the University of Miami and will receive their MA (in Creative Writing!) from the University of West Florida in 2022. An Academy of American Poets prizewinner and Pushcart nominee, their poetry and creative nonfiction work has been published both online and in print by Prometheus Dreaming, The Write Launch, Gravitas, Drunk Monkeys, Beyond Words, and more. Marlee is a Nice Jewish Queer living with chronic illness—like the mighty koala they sleep most of the time, waking only to eat and engage in nonmonogamy. They believe in you.