Kylie Ayn Yockey (she/her) is a queer creative and Masters in Writing candidate at Spalding University. Her work has appeared in literary publications such as Prismatica Magazine, Meow Meow Pow Pow, Glyph Magazine, honey & lime, Butter Press, Capulet Mag, and more. She's edited for Glyph, The Louisville Review, Ink & Voices, and is poetry editor for Blood Tree Literature. Despite having been raised in the American South, she does not call all sodas "cokes" (but is known to say "soda pop" when feeling particularly whimsical); her favorite being Jones' discontinued Pomegranate flavor. www.kylieaynyockey.com. IG: @kylieaynyockey
A RIFT IN MANY DIMENSIONS
KYLIE AYN YOCKEY
i feel a little like Flatland
a few dimensions short of a full picture
out of date by maybe a decade or three
i can’t seem to get used to the physics of spacetime
am i not a dedicated observer? my relativity not special enough?
over and over i relent to transformation
give in to the y-axis or velocity measuring me
catalog events and try not to get lost in the aether
but it feels like a losing battle against time
i have a theory that proves i’m not a scientist
and definitely proves that i think about myself too much:
i feel a little like Pointland
unperceiving of geometry that isn’t shaped like me
or of newness in my landscape
where does x mark the spot on my timeline?
some days have tangibility
like the click-clunks of my VHS player or the taste
of machine-washed cotton Jimi Hendrix tee or
bump over my skull-flesh where I concussed myself thrice
other times though i can laugh at TikToks and
plan to quit my job and remember that photos of Earth
these days are ruined by satellite cover
i feel a little bit like a ghost
a hologram with kinetic energy and opinions
on the interior design of my reference frames
even when i don’t know if this manifold is real
i know that i’m sitting on it wonky
like i’m about to roll off a dusty shelf
unsellable but still on the table
an idea proposed but with a line drawn through it
i feel a little like a model of me