Estradiol Roughly Translates To A Spade // Cassandra Whitaker

the original child within the earth sloughs off, revealing what was once, in the whole of mother, a bright female mind waiting to be revealed to its body. The tool, when doubled with laughter and a sash of glamour, uncovers so much possibility–a flower bed curling out like a memory’s memory into strawberries and sweet potatoes spreading their ideas, free of constraints, yarrow leaning forward like a side-stitched joker, laughing at a friend who has come by; hope, a surprise, a song.

Cassandra Whitaker (she/they) is a trans writer from Virginia whose work has been published in Michigan Quarterly Review, Beestung, The Mississippi Review, Foglifter, Bennington Review, Conjunctions, Evergreen Review, and other places.  They are a member of the National Book Critics Circle and an educator.