impossible ecology

when a cardinal displays
both red & brown-gray pigment, 
this is called bilateral gynandromorph.

marsh harriers,
in subtle drag,
turn gray feathers to brown.

in the egg,
at high temperatures,
bearded dragons femme.

banana slugs fuck
in ouroborus,
boasting twin genitals.

clown fish transition,
& so do sea bass.
hawkfish change sex at will.

it is simple to dissect
what is infeasible,
easy to slice,

to disembowel,
to disembody,
to disregard

with clean taxonomy,
to correct nomenclature,
to ensure proper analysis.

i abhor surviving in a stranger’s mouth, clenched
between teeth like a squirming nymph-larva
pinned by budding wings to the page.

i want only to remember i am animal
haunting the body of an animal.

in praise of the takeout egg drop soup container

stained crimson last week after
i shoved spaghetti inside and pushed 
tight the flimsy lid, to later take 
for lunch and overheat in the break room microwave, 

radiation slightly melting the plastic lip
so that it resembles the black, 
curling page of a book
set aflame.                              

once, 
i sipped yellow

yolk flowers from this ruined chalice
while too sick to leave my bed, swallowed 
the deep-fried egg noodles gone soft in salt broth, 
believed this was a kind of elixir.

Evelyn Berry (she/they) is a trans writer, performer, and educator. Her poetry chapbook Buggery is the 2020 recipient of the BOOM Chapbook Prize from Bateau Press. Their recent work has appeared in Susurrus Magazine, Fall Lines, Anti-Heroin Chic, beestung, petrichor, and elsewhere. She lives in Aiken, South Carolina, where she works as a museum educator and creative consultant.