MOSQUITO BITES ON THE EDGE OF BAKER LAKE, WASHINGTON

Audrey Fatone

she/her

it’s ok it’s ok you can
have some of my blood.
I was too anemic
to donate it in college,
but it’s good now.
I have the right iron
for you, a lady,
a mother I will
give your babies
a life. I’m on the edge
of the lake.
I’m basically naked.
I’m basically asking.
the summer is for being
itchy and collecting scars
from bites and adventures.
let me help you.
my body is the only thing
I own, but I want it
to be used for something
more than my breath.
even if it hurts, I will
help you start a family
who you know
will feed the birds and fuel
the bats’ acrobatics under
the moon. I want
to be connected
to them. to get
here I drove my sedan
I burned the air,
so it’s ok, I deserve it.
bite me, I owe it to the woods
my offering, my forgiveness
my gift to you.

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Audrey Fatone currently resides in Raleigh, NC where she is in graduate school for Parks and Recreation. She writes about the intersections of queerness in the natural world and going to the woods as means for finding unconditional love and acceptance. Her work is also recently featured in Rappahannock Review, Poetry South, and Windover.