Jenny Danes

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Pop-Tarts and Cunts

I lean against the kitchen counter in pyjama shorts 
waiting        for the toaster to eject a pop-tart inherited  
from my American friend’s house clearance        it is the hottest
sweetest cardboard        the strawberry jam almost brown   
I nibble at it and try to feel cute        somehow prioritising 
finishing the pop-tart        its strange rigid icing        and soggy-dry border   
and also   talking nonchalantly to my housemate        who is clattering  
with the oven door        I prioritise these things        even though
I can feel my menstrual cup overflowing        and hear it too
why has no one written about the noise of that before
that heartfelt bubble and squelch of a body  unable
to contain itself        my new friend Ben says the c word
delicately        even though I give him permission        to say cunt    
at which his face flickers in distaste        I feel he is one held
tongue        away from mansplaining to me why        it is a problematic
word        well thank god for my problematic and generous cunt 
the toilet is glorious carnage        you wouldn’t believe how bright  
and how much        I pinch        tip        and flush        leaking all over my fingers
red red red red red        wow        I think        as I wash the little
thing out        my insides must absolutely glow

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JENNY DANES won the New Poets Prize in 2016 and her debut pamphlet Gaps was published by smith|doorstop the following year. Her work has appeared in various magazines including The Rialto, Magma, The Interpreter’s House and Butcher’s Dog.