Taylor Franson-Thiel
Tyrant Lizard King
My brother taps a claw to my stomach and says
getting chubby huh? and I am all prey,
all hadrosaur, all fleshy open parts inviting bite
and slash. He walks away, pausing to flex
his bone crushing head in a mirror and pick
my flesh from his teeth. This puncture and pull
game he plays where he opens wide and bites
at weakness while I pretend it's humor and not
a tomb. The dark awl of my need for him to love
me. His talons, crowns of coal at my neck.
My body, doing nothing, fuel for him to deploy
his predatory prowess. I plead for him
to swallow me quickly, leave the bones behind.
Bio
Taylor Franson-Thiel is a Pushcart nominated poet from Utah, now based in Fairfax, Virginia. She received her Master's in creative writing from Utah State University and is pursuing an MFA at George Mason University. Her writing frequently centers on the intersections between the female body, religion, and her experiences as a college athlete. You can find her work in places such as Psaltery and Lyre, Quarter Press, The Bangalore Review. Along with writing, she enjoys lifting heavy weights and reading fantastic books.