The Wardrobe's Best Dressed: caliche untapp'd by caliche fields

This selection, chosen by Guest Curator Amanda Judd, is from caliche untapp'd by caliche fields released by Fruit Bat Press in 2021.

black swan
dysmorphia
so pink and so pretty
he keeps me down but it keeps cum
–ing up


xviii

^xxa CINQUAIN imbibed thru grapefruit shandy, avery brewing co., boulder, colorado

caliche (they / elle / iel) is a mineral deposit of gravel, sand, and nitrates, found especially in dry areas of latin america. they are a queer sioux tejanx; enrolled with the fort peck assiniboine and sioux tribes of montana. they have lived upon the prehistoric ruins of the permian basin. they hold an ma, specializing in the poetry of sor juana inés de la cruz. they’re rooted in the interdisciplinary natures and their work dwells within the kitchen, its sciences and philosophies.

After a 25-year career as a paralegal, Amanda Valerie Judd returned to school to earn her AFA in Creative Writing from Normandale Community College. She is currently attending Southern New Hampshire University working to earn her BFA in Creative Writing – Poetry. In 2020, she won the Patsy Lea Core Prize for Poetry. In 2021, her poem “My Only Label” was nominated for “Best of the Net 2021.” Her work has been published or is forthcoming in PAN-O-PLY Magazine, MockingOwl Roost, Trouvaille Review, Prospectus, and Talking Stick 31.