every week at the doctor’s office, I fold
my boxers inside my pants, and pull

the scratchy sheet up to my hips.
I didn’t know I could get used to this.

the moon hides once each month, just like me.
we are brothers, and I am the jealous one.

tell me if it hurts, she says.
it hurts, I say.

but it’s okay.
that’s how I know

it’s working.



____

Kaleigh O’Keefe is a gender outlaw and proud union member living in Dorchester, Massachusetts. Their poetry has appeared in Breaking the Chains: a Socialist Perspective on Women’s Liberation, Slamfind, won the PRIDE Poetry Prize in Passengers Journal, and is featured on indie music legend Ceschi’s album Sans Soleil. Kaleigh is a contributor and editor for Liberation News, is a co-founder of Game Over Books, and hosts the First Fridays Youth Open Mic in Jamaica Plain. Find Kaleigh online at www.kaleighokeefe.com, on Twitter and Instagram at @KaleighOKeefeOK.