Trail Babies
The girls feel sexy in hiking boots,
earth caked into their soles.
They climb fast to get their heart rates up
and feel the sweat drippin’ down their necks.
They love breathin’ heavy
and flushin’ their faces pink.
It reminds them of sex.
They like to sit in their stink for days
and bathe in rivers or lakes.
The girls want to get lost in the woods,
so that when they die,
they’ll decompose right into the dirt
and grow into something demanding and phallic,
like a big, fat redwood tree.
Then they’ll grow and grow
and always take up space.
Megan de Guzman (she/her/hers) is a Filipina American writer based in Denver. Her work has been previously published by Stain’d Arts and Local Wolves Magazine, and she has been a writer in residence at Studio Faire in Nerac, France, and at Millay Arts’ Wintertide in Austerlitz, New York. More information about her work can be found at www.megandeguzman.com.