One Night Celibacy

Sometimes,

I

think
about  my
gravestone,
what’ll the
name be? 
Who’ll
clean       it? 
Sometimes,

I           think
about
my       bones,
are
my       hips
shifted? 
Will the
anthropologist   
who discovers
me tell
people I was a
woman? 
Will   “woman”   and
              “man” 
mean anything
in the
future? 
Sometimes,

I           think
about
my       skin,
soft
and      decayed
by
fungi,
possibly
scrumptious,
sweet
fat        cells
filled
with
estrogen.
        I’ve 
become
ready   for 
love. 
It’s  been
hidden  in my
vial   of
estradiol,
and  now   I
find it  in
the        mouth
of my
     lover,
deep
inside,
where I   desire
for her
  to say: 
“You look 
like a girl.”

Sappho Stanley is a transsexual woman living in East Tennessee with her cat Kevin. She will be attending an MFA Program in the fall of 2022. She has recently completed her Bachelor’s degree in English at East Tennessee State University. You can find her work in Lupercalia, The Mockingbird, Warning Lines, and forthcoming in the lickety~split. Her pronouns are she/her.