Christina M. Del Porto

I bartered with an arms dealer
bought blades and mini-pliers
chemical weapons
to clear-cut and control burn
my body's dark grasslands

I grew back reeds
mowed them and napalmed them
until they turned steel

after school leg-crossing
raked microchip spikes
across my knee and calf

Propaganda sold border war
Dad's five o'clock shadow one country
my pepper dust another
our lands divided by gender lines

I let the grasslands grow