Gyroscope Review is celebrating National Poetry Month with a Poem Renaissance, a review of previously published poems looking for new life and new views. Every day through May 20th, a new poem to fall in love with all over again.
Catastrophizing Cannibals
by Adrianna Gordey
—After Paige Lewis’ “Diorama of Ghosts”
thoughts eat each other, bloody their jaws
on my marshmallow emotions
Aren’t you built tougher?
i tumbled head-first down the stairs
as a toddler, a tornado of toes &
fingers & fear mom paid the doctor
the two teeth that the wood sawed
from my skull i’m still healing
But didn’t your teeth grow back?
the knowledge they could break
splintered my self-esteem
Do you see a therapist?
biweekly i bargain with telehealth, but
they don’t accept teeth
Where are your baby teeth?
like all my best parts, they were auctioned
off, storage war style listen to them rattle
in lab coat pockets, enamel tumbleweeds:
proof the world wounds
Do you miss them?
i yearn for the yolk of time where nature
nurtured, where thoughts didn’t hyperbolize
into doomsday declarations when i was whole
Originally published with Neologism Poetry Journal in June 2024
Adrianna Gordey (she/her) is a writer based in Kansas. When she isn't writing, Adrianna can be found daydreaming about the Atlantic ocean and assembling overly ambitious Halloween costumes. Her work has appeared in the Hunger Mountain Review, One Art, Neologism Poetry Journal, and elsewhere. Follow her on Instagram @by_adrianna_gordey.
Don’t forget to read the Spring 2025 Issue, available now, online and in print
Previous Renaissance Poets
April Poets