April 14, 2024

Ribcage: A poem about being non-binary

Recently my poem, Ribcage, was published in Issue 15 of Impossible Archetype.

You can read the full issue here.

Top left title 'Impossible Archetype issue 15', centre title, 'Ribcage by Rachel Handley'. 'Ribcage First, you feel secrets in the chest, a kind of blood, a bright blooming, a strange kind of thicket, ousting the ribcage. I could let them go, I am hungry enough. Prying open each opening, fingers twisting for a strange kind of switch. I wrestle the blood out of me, handfuls at a time and you look at me exactly as if I had blood on my hands, as if I am guilty, denying myself a woman. While I congratulate my truth: No longer a sister. A them, they, their. A not-usually-her and you’d look at me bright with red and turn, quick to not have blood touch your skin.'

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