dolly-doll takes her first breath

Illustration for "dolly-doll takes her first breath" by Kailey Tedesco. A doll with black hair and a blue corset has blueish-gray features (cheeks, nose, lips) and large blue eyes with faint pupils. She has prominent black eyelashes and black hair with curtain layers. Sewing pins stick out of her arms and corset. At her waist is a big black bow.
doctor darling, i am so gyration, so dolls do not move on their own. i box-shift & spit plastic. here i am in my grief-prep apron, all my humors moon- wax over my pea-spoon teeth- hole. forbid the cloth heart from southing toward my painted weekday panties. you said do not touch & so i touched too early. it is my plush to touch, my vessel, my chintz. morris & co. corsets my historical torso. no strawberries left to thieve or feed me. doctor darling, do go on. strap me to the little bed so that my cloth threads with the bed- cloth. i see you seeing my demon accessories, the occult symbols on my blythe-change eyeballs. put the pins back in my food & take away my scalp-hair. tape shut the toothbrush-eyelash so i can finally find sleep. the thermostat is too low. doctor, i’m shaking. i am shaking all on my own.

doctor darling, i am so gyration, so dolls
do not move on their own. i box-shift & spit
plastic. here i am in my grief-prep
apron, all my humors moon-
wax over my pea-spoon teeth-
hole. forbid the cloth heart
from southing toward my painted
weekday panties. you said do not touch
& so i touched too early. it is my plush
to touch, my vessel, my chintz.
morris & co. corsets my historical torso. no
strawberries left to thieve
or feed me. doctor darling, do go on.
strap me to the little bed
so that my cloth threads with the bed-
cloth. i see you seeing my demon
accessories, the occult symbols
on my blythe-change
eyeballs. put the pins back
in my food & take away
my scalp-hair. tape shut
the toothbrush-eyelash
so i can finally find sleep.
the thermostat is too
low. doctor,
i’m shaking. i am shaking
all on my own.

Kailey Tedesco is the author of four collections of poetry, including Lizzie, Speak (winner of the White Stag Publishing MS Contest, 2018). Her most recent collection, MOTHERDEVIL (White Stag Publishing, 2024), has been nominated for an Elgin Award. She teaches courses on Gothic literature and horror cinema at Moravian University in Bethlehem, PA. Her poetry won both first and second prize in the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association’s 2024 contest. You can find more of her work in Black Warrior Review, Electric Literature, F(r)iction, Hayden’s Ferry Review, Fairy Tale Review, and more.

Website: kaileytedesco.com