Alone at my Mom’s House with the Dogs
There are lizards
Everywhere
They sit
Varied in species
Dozens watching perched
On the flat wood
Of each fence post top
They make me feel important
Watching me like that
Are they waiting for me
To open my mouth
And go boom?
It’s whatever, anyway,
I am the water the water is me
Caligula means bootykins
Honestly, Gaius was a bitch
And they etched his story
On the stones of earth’s lore
How humiliating, like,
Henry Tudor was a Paranoiac
And an honest idiot
A full phony baloney
A castle full of women’s blood
And dead babies
And dashed dreams
All around
But me?
I just want to be watercolor
Pigments don’t last
Figments don’t stay
I am like Way to Blue
ask Drake, he knew
Wash off, sailor,
Heave ho, go play,
Rinse me away,
I am
can be
made new
Everyday
P.C. Tavarez is a Cuban Dominican poet, novelist, and fiber artist from Miami, Florida, now living in Indiana. Her work explores Caribbean memory, diaspora, womanhood, mythology, mental health, and identity through lyrical confession, cultural history, and speculative imagination.
She is the author of That’s Not Love, That’s a Live Grenade (2021), Love in Winter, Alive in Spring (2024), I’m Sorry I’m Just a Girl and Other Lunacies (2026), and the Epistolary Lovers Series featuring Esther & Holden and Louis & Holly (2026). Writing as Daft Pixie, she blends poetry, fiber art, folklore, and Caribbean culture.
