I was the right bitch, one bitch
two bitch red bitch blue bitch, blue
in my heart and in my throbbing
liver until morning.
The word bitch implies a lack of
ability to understand, a sweet
dumbness, a deniability
that convinces me to swipe on eyeliner
when I am going to return your things.
The things I used to hold
at night and that used
to hold me, sweet bitch
sleep bitch getting ready
to be the best bitch
for you. And now that fucking
bitch doesn’t even
deserve those things anymore
does she.

Marina Chen is from Washington State and a member of the 2019-2020 Seattle Youth Poet Laureate cohort. Her work has been recognized and published by the National Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, Live Poets Society of New Jersey, the Hanging Loose literary magazine, Stanford University’s journal Mantis, and others.