we looked at the expensive dresses on calle arenal
like a staple on the muscles’ reverse side
inclined beside a primary organ
something
halfway between eugenic genetic desire and contemplation
of beauty an aesthetic object soaked in diction or
the animal cell’s display
the sixteen chromosomes that isolate us
from dogkind
but there were the dresses
shimmering rhinestones under the light
bulbs so white
the dresses skidding through a woman’s body
imitation without head or arms
satin or tulle around the plastic waist
the weight of a bride’s body
the idea of the weightless bride’s body
Helena Mariño b. Madrid (Spain), 1990, graduated in May, 2017 with an MFA in Spanish Creative Writing at the University of Iowa. Her poems have most recently appeared in ‘The American Journal of Poetry,’ ‘GFT press,’ ‘Ají Magazine,’ ‘The Doctor T. J. Eckleburg Review,’ and ‘El Coloquio de los Perros.’