Self Portrait where lilies are my body and you’re playing me like chess
image curtesy of the MET Museum Archive
by Sophie Jefferies
I am a selfish girl to tell you the truth.
My blood flows inside my own body and nowhere else.
I am an indulgent gash on my left finger.
I am a Victorian maiden, seeping into the walls.
My blood flows inside my own body and nowhere else.
I am a chess pawn covered in lily pollen.
I am a Victorian maiden, seeping into the walls.
My white nightgown slips sexily off my shoulder.
I am a chess pawn covered in lily pollen.
I’m terrible at chess and also general foresight.
My white nightgown slips sexily off my shoulder.
The lilies are pure and absolving.
I’m terrible at chess and also general foresight.
You tell me jump and I’ll ask you how high.
The lilies are pure and absolving.
Sometimes I just want to feel something and so I scream.
You tell me jump and I’ll ask you how high.
I wish I was in your body instead of my own.
Sometimes I just want to feel something and so I scream.
Aren’t you having fun? I’m flirting with you.
I wish I was in your body instead of my own.
I am scrawling the lilies with blue pen, weeping all over the paper.
Aren’t you having fun? I’m flirting with you,
and I’m hoping to be prettier in a week or so!
I am scrawling the lilies with blue pen, weeping all over the paper.
I am an indulgent gash on my left finger.
And I’m hoping to be prettier in a week or so!
I am a selfish girl to tell you the truth.
Sophie Jefferies is a poet from Swampscott, Massachusetts. She graduated from Bennington College in 2023 with a degree in poetry and French. She is currently pursuing an MFA in poetry at Columbia University. After graduating from Bennington, she spent a year teaching ESL in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Now, she lives in New York City. She likes teaching and writing and swimming in the ocean. She hates social media and apathy.
