Little Girl - Nazani Cassidy

The pink indoor flowers,

Ate them up.

Showed them my pretty little ankles, Achilles, anklet. And so on.

Became the green they envied, enveloped in snow Outside for the winter.

My mouth is filled with soap. So much so, that in time, the flowers will shrivel

At the sight of my face-mask-covered acne. And dead dog wails into the next night.

Turn cream-colored, fuchsia floral bed.

Create the next lines, Achilles, anklet.

And bathe in my new summers dress, Covered in the ways of pretty pink petunias

Out for summer’s- bless These stems.

Slice my tendon in two.

And the pretty little pink petunia pot Will, when summer comes, turn blue.

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Nazani Cassidy, known by the nickname ZANI, is a queer student at Interlochen Arts Academy, studying creative writing. She regularly performs her spoken word poetry to classrooms of unamused teenagers, and has hopes of becoming recognized for poetry in the future. ZANI is a classically trained cellist, and has studied both solo works and orchestral repertoire since the age of three. She has recently been published in The Athena Review, Austin Youth Poets Anthology, and HerWords Literary Magazine. If ZANI isn’t writing, she’s in the radio station, mixing contemporary classical music and spoken word.