I was a hot
commodity
a hot lil
tamale
for fourteen seconds, back in April.
Line them down the block, 28 to 67, men and women
curious for a taste
of the new me:

A soft
commodity
a flawed lil
smokescreen
for thirteen seconds, back in August.
I’d been hiding, behind rows of books
back of the library
in size 2XL
worthless, so they told me.

Not a hot
commodity;
a locked lil
boring story
for twelve seconds, back in October.
Invisible because I was
too
visible.
Took up too much space
(it makes you easier to ignore).

Some hot
commodity
always escaping me-
Didn’t think I was worth more
than cutting remarks or barbed compliments.

And now that I am
a hotter commodity
in July
I wonder why they
lined up down the block for me at 180
but ran away at 215.

Silly me.
I thought it was my personality.

---

Alexis Rhodes is a queer, polyamorous poet, playwright, performer, and strategist based in North Carolina. Her poetry has been described as raw and confessional, with just enough humor to lighten the mood. Alexis was recently published with The Words Faire and Wayfarer Magazine, and has forthcoming publications with Action,Spectacle, Blood+Honey, Phylum Press, Ghost Light Lit, Half and One, and Drip Lit Magazine. She has completed five anthologies: Notes on a Narcissist, LONGING, Goddess, Spiked Crowns, and lex, your poetry’s grotesque and is submitting to presses. Alexis lives with her husband, two kids, and a hedgehog named Hedge. Instagram: @alexis_writes_things.