pray, prey - Beatrice Clark

A woman walks home alone at night

One earbud is risky

Two, out of the question

If I am fat

They won’t want to touch me

I will be safe,

Right?

Perhaps why I fled

The Apple

Ran to Tinsel

Craved the auto bubble

Vehicular

Safety

But felt forever

Danger

in the drunkenness

Party mom to the

Pretty prey

Buzz the locks

Neuter thyself

Pray

They won’t look

This way

---

Beatrice Clark (she/her/hers) is a queer writer, filmmaker, intersectional feminist, and sustainability advocate living a bicoastal bounce between Wabanaki Confederacy territory (known today as Portland, Maine) and Tongva/Chumash lands (in Los Angeles, California). Clark is a graduate of the Gallatin School of Individualized Study at New York University and spends her days fighting and healing from debilitating chronic pain, precipitated by tick-borne infections that went misdiagnosed for a decade. Mustering strength from her creative outlets, western medicine, Traditional Chinese Medicine, herbalism, energy work, and spiritualism, Clark's journey has transformed her from a cog in the mainstream TV and Film industry, to a humbled human seeking purpose and strength through survival.