The Wardrobe's Best Dressed: baby, sweetheart, honey by Emily Perkovich

This selection, chosen by guest editor Layla Lenhardt, is from baby, sweetheart, honey by Emily Perkovich (Alien Buddha Press 2023).

False Advertising

/two inches below thighs/whole inch above fingertips/

this is the hot spot where we tattoo our women with “take me, if hem falls 
above this line” just under the intersection of “asking for it” & “open for 
business”

/if you need a visual, drop a pin an inch south of “property of men”/

because someone marked the whole goddamn vessel as “for sale” at birth.

your male-god pulled me from ribcage, so it’s only natural for you to prod and 
poke/to dig your fingers into the wet earth of me/when you need a reminder 
of what it feels like to breathe.

/don’t forget you still need a woman to teach you to breathe/

to be born in these bodies is to be made an open invitation, rsvp unnecessary. 
because when you crowned, they took you from the throne of your mother and 
handed you off to man. and somehow, as mothers, we still haven’t learned to 
believe the abducted. we still think the wanted poster a lie. we still think the 
missing will be found.

/to be born a woman, is to be born missing/

do you remember when your god didn’t believe you about the snake?

do you remember what it’s like when no one believes you?

Emily Perkovich is from the Chicago-land area. She is the Editor in Chief of Querencia Press and on the Women in Leadership Advisory Board with Valparaiso University. Her work strives to erase the stigma surrounding trauma victims and their responses. She is a Best of the Net nominee and a SAFTA scholarship recipient. She is previously published with Harness Magazine, Rogue Agent, Coffin Bell Journal, and Awakenings, among others. She is the author of the poetry collections Godshots Wanted: Apply Within (Sunday Mornings at the River), The Number 12 Looks Just Like You (Finishing Line Press), & baby, sweetheart, honey (Alien Buddha Press) as well as the novella Swallow. You can find more of her work on IG

Layla Lenhardt (she/they) is an American poet. She is founder and Editor-in-Chief of the (currently on hiatus) national literary journal 1932 Quarterly. Her essays, poems, short prose, and interviews have been published across various types of media, including a pickle jar, a post card, and a bathroom stall in Dublin. She is a 2021 Best of the Net Nominee and was a judge for Poetry Super Highway’s Annual Contest in 2022. Her first full-length poetry collection, Mother Tongue, was published by Main Street Rag Publications (2023). She is a 2022 alumna of the SAFTA residency.