2 poems by Lela Hannah

Fractured

I. Childhood

I’ve tried too many times
to wedge myself into 
an electric socket, an Alice in Unwonderland, 

insisting on existing 
in places that can never accommodate me.

II. Adolescence 

Multi-talented is defined 
by being able to cry 
and eat ice cream 
without swallowing tears. 

III. Adulthood

I make glass figurines 

seal the cracks 
with the stickiness of my blood.  





The Undoing

Crocodiles are the most 
unlikely creature 
to shed tears. 

I am the most 
likely creature 
to shed all of me. 

Skin blistering 
under a lonely desert sun, 
 
skin scattering 
like pastel eggs 
on Easter morning. 

My life simmers,
a mirage before me, 

as unlikely as tearful 
crocodiles prowling 
the dunes. 

I trace my name 
as SOS in the sand, 

a pilot reads it 
as I’m ok 
and flies on. 
 
Flourish

This body         eats her fill, then a little more. 
This body         and all her many pleasures. 

This body         with her powerhouse liver.
This body         knows livers are not indestructible. 

This body         refuses to shrink to fit in her favorite jeans. 
This body         ever morphing, always a temple. 

This body         with her rounded edges and sharp tongue.  
This body         rages against regulation, boils it in her blood until it evaporates.

This body         freefalls and uses her skin as a parachute. 
This body         glows.

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Lela Hannah‘s poetry has been published in Typehouse Literary Magazine, The Light Ekphrastic, Beltway Poetry Quarterly, The Ekphrastic Review, New Note Poetry, and elsewhere. She holds a BA in Integrative Studies from George Mason University. Lela is a neurodivergent writer and poet living with ADHD.

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