VARIATIONS ON A THEME BY OVID by Daniella Toosie-Watson

by Daniella Toosie-Watson / Tuesday, 14 November 2023 / Published in ISSUE 28

Like any other reasonable children who want to play
with their small goat but don’t know how to explain
their games because they don’t know enough goat words,
my brother and I strap on skateboard helmets
and take turns headbutting with Roger.
What else did she expect us to do?
I’m not saying my mom’s the devil when she’s angry,
but I’ve seen a goat: I gallop towards Roger with unfamiliar legs,
losing human form with each strike. I know horns
when I see them. No one will recognize me.
I’ll look nothing like my mom.

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About Daniella Toosie-Watson

Daniella Toosie-Watson (she/they) is a poet, visual artist and educator from New York. They have received fellowships and awards from the Callaloo Creative Writing Workshop, VONA, the InsideOut Detroit Literary Arts Project and the University of Michigan Hopwood Program. Daniella has been published in The Atlantic, The Paris Review, Callaloo, Virginia Quarterly Review, Poet Lore, the Cincinnati Review and elsewhere. They were the profile writer for The Kennedy Center’s Next 50 initiative and are currently a Visiting Professor at Pratt Institute. Daniella received their MFA from the University of Michigan Helen Zell Writers’ Program. (Photo Credit: Nicholas Nicols)