I screwed up my cell cake, despite baking three
batches of cupcakes filled with cookie dough,
Oreo truffles and brownie batter that same
weekend. I didn’t have enough frosting left after
making all of those things, so the Twizzlers that
were supposed to be the nuclear membrane didn’t
stick, and the red M&Ms that were supposed to be
the lysosomes fell off the moment you touched them.
The cake itself nearly split in half on the way to school.
I know you were pissed off when I drew pictures of East
German women with scarves and Parisian back alleyways
while you tried to show us PowerPoints about the DNA of
our ancestors. I don’t blame you for going out with
your co-workers to El Campesino to drown your sorrows
in a margarita pitcher. I would too, if I had a student like me.
Morgan Boyer (she/her) is the author of The Serotonin Cradle (Finishing Line Press, 2018) and a graduate of Carlow University. Boyer has been featured in Kallisto Gaia Press, Thirty West Publishing House, Oyez Review, Pennsylvania English, and Voices from the Attic. Boyer is a neurodivergent bisexual woman who resides in Pittsburgh, PA. Twitter: @MorganBoyerPoet