Gender Studies

By: Miriam O'Neal

When he is four my son tells me

he’s had a past life.

I was a dresser, he reports.

And I had 3 drawers.

And if one of drawers was open

I was female.

And when all my drawers were closed

I was male.

He doesn’t say what this means.

He seems to think it has all been explained.

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Miriam O'Neal's poems and reviews have appeared in Blackbird Journal, Ragazine, River Heron Review, Lily Poetry Review, Solidago Journal, and other journals. Her collection of poems, We Start With What We're Given was published by Kelsay Books in 2018. She also translates Italian poetry and has been a Beginning Translation Fellow at the American Literary Translators Association (ALTA). Her awards include Finalist in the Louisiana Literature Poetry Prize, the Brian Turner Poetry Prize, and the Massachusetts Cultural Council Poetry Prize. She is a nominee for a 2018 Pushcart Poetry Fellowship and was named a Notable Poet in the 2019 Disquiet Poetry Prize Competition. She earned her MFA in Literature and Writing from Bennington Writing Seminars.