Tree Jewelry and Gary’s Nightmares
by Mary (Grace) Policelli
My mom thinks
that my nose ring is slutty
Gary gets nightmares
when he eats chinese food
my sister wants
me to call more
I want to eat a wheel
of cheddar cheese
that is so big
I break a tooth
in its orange
clay-cheese-flesh
I tell Gary
maybe it's a metaphor
his favorite foods
haunting him
Gary says
he doesn’t know about all that
I want a caffeine cigarette
and to stop craving cheese so much
my mom doesn’t know
I’m a leafless tree covered in snow
I wake up
with jewelry in my nose
a tiara of thrifted broaches
a dangle necklace of bobby pins
I make jewelry for the trees
in the winter
and we are like
dolls on dashboards
dancing
in coconut bras
accessorized and sparkling
our arms outstretched towards the sky