To Make Curves - Sophia Lauer

i

it is as easy as having sex,

primal and delightful and intuitive.

like sex, do it how you want,

let them converge in a space

or spread out, away, like

once-lovers, now enemies.

ii

make curves like you are a salmon,

swimming through the water,

but don’t think of it as swimming.

science has not yet said, but it knows

the salmon think they are dancing

together, not swimming. they dance up

the river against the current. make

curves like the shining bodies of these

fish, like the round roe they leave

behind after dancing.

iii

make curves because

you love to sing, because

your sister once taught

you how to skip and

whistle, and you owe

it to her to make a

lovely thing.

iv

ghosts and the like

make curves daily. their

bodies are curves. they know

the curve like i know my body,

like i know i have hands

and i have eyes and i

have breasts

and i

am

a

ghost.

v

life is a curve, a curve towards

an end, and all the world

is a series of curves and curves

and lines intersecting, intersecting

lives in the curved world.

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S. E. Lauer is a budding author and student at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, pursuing a dual degree in English and anthropological linguistics. Other works of hers include 'Philosophy,' a flash fiction piece selected for publication from I Dare You Ltd. Publishing, and a self-published anthology of poetry and vignette-style creative nonfiction titled Venture Home. Her creative works tend to focus on the social concept of the family, as she is profoundly interested in how human morals and mindsets are formed during upbringing of a child. Her favorite word, in case you are curious, is rhododendron.