Daniela Olszewska

Thirteens

ButASecretIzSurprisinglyEZ
2BreakUpWhileMySerrated-
EdgedSkullSerratesYrBreast-
Bone.SomeCatholicGurlColored
ThisGlassHouse.OnOccasion
IPracticeDissuadingHer
FromWearingThatYellowBirdHat.
SomeSundays,SheRushesThru
TheRosary.LOL.TheSentiment
IzMutual.IBroadcast
OurBodyBreakToTheTipOfDawn.
SoConspicous,OurAngelAngles!
SoSrry/NotSrry4YrLoss.

Thirteens

VeryRogueFilled+Strata-less,
AtAHigherAltitudeI’llMeet
HerFace2Face.WeRRed
UnderOurMFingTuesday
Masks.IFeelSecretlySuperior
SinceGivingUpHeterodox.
ThatIzToSayThatIAmUneasy
AroundAllTheseEverybodies.
They’veAlreadySeenMeUgly
InMyWTFWedges+WTFLeisure
Drugzzz.IMean,ICan’tStayOnThis
PlanetIfIt’sGoing2Continue
2ActMoreThan13YearsOld.

Daniela Olszewska is the author of four full-length collections of poetry: cloudfang : : cakedirt (Horse Less Press, 2012), True Confessions of an Escapee from The Capra Facility for Wayward Girls (Spittoon Press, 2013), Citizen J (Artifice Books, forthcoming), and (co-written with Carol Guess) How To Feel Confident With Your Special Talents (Black Lawrence Press, forthcoming). She sits on Switchback Books' Board of Directors and serves as an Associate Poetry Editor of H_NGM_N and Another Chicago Magazine. Daniela teaches at community colleges and maximum-security prisons throughout the area known as Chicagoland.