Volta [we left]
we left womanhood because we were not a very good one. so easy to reach handsome; crushing to fall shy of beauty. listen. we are so good we will tell you all of the ways we are not. a fetish is a fetish if borne in childhood in childhood men loved us wrong like glitch like a girl loved us lolita sweet loved us like a mistake. we were a fetish developed in childhood for wrong men. they turned us replica. simulacrum object to represent girl and its heft. every dress began to feel like drag. we left womanhood with no where in mind to leave to. some did not like that we sought to leave. and that made us want to leave more. we tired of our body divided into staves of chromosome. we are so convinced of our neuter self that when some one calls us she we turn and look for her. *Originally published by Diode
Audio: Mya Matteo Alexice reads “Volta [we left]”
Mya Matteo Alexice is a Black and white Cave Canem fellow and academic studying Black romantic life. They are the author of A Shape We’ve Yet to Name (2024) and The Limerence Object (2025). Matteo’s poems have appeared in Pleiades, The Rumpus, swamp pink, Black Warrior Review, Copper Nickel, diode, Hayden’s Ferry Review, Uncanny Magazine, Brooklyn Poets, and elsewhere. They’ve received fellowships from the Mellon Foundation, Fine Arts Work Center, and more. They were the runner-up in the Black Warrior Review Poetry Contest judged by Gary Soto. He enjoys video games where you can make the characters kiss.