Colleen O'Connor received her MFA in nonfiction from Columbia College. She lives in Chicago, where she is the managing editor of Switchback Books.
Centerfold
The binding gets
in the way but
the spine doesn’t
lie it tells all
and marks
the place where
you spent the most
time it freezes
the spot where
you paused
it’s been fifteen
minutes now since
we last spoke is this
over now am I
flattened against
this waiting now
glossed against
this flat waiting
stuck in the same
pose for fifteen
minutes forever
waiting I am so
pressed a button
deflated and sewn
waiting to perform
its holding because
that’s what buttons
do they’re pushed
I wish I could
pull my skin
pull out my
pink swells my
furrows and folds
the lucky ones
get to pull
and roll their skin
fast and rushing
but instead
I’m pushed I’m
flattened and I’m
always pressed
against.