BETH BIGLER
Kim Kardashian Speaks To Shamu
here’s what i’m good at
boys like what they see when i bend
over i am a perfect jump shot float
when i pout i’m the chemical
sprayed on canyon fires
when i look at a boy he is not the now
he is who he wanted to be at six
cop doc goalie before he grew
scared of heights and his mom
before his capture
i’m exotic shell he wants to crack it
here’s what i’m not good at
long division but i take real good
pictures i’m good at black and white
i’m paid to seem sillier than i am
people pay to watch someone
ride me i am inevitable as whitecaps
i’m not sure how long i’ll live
i sometimes wonder what the name
beneath my name really is
and some nights after everyone has gone
it is quiet and i listen to my own breaths
wonder if a current will take me
or if there is a day i should not
have an audience
i close my eyes then something floods
a song i knew it is low and rolling
it moans my name it calls me
back to a body of water
i can barely remember
here’s what i’m good at
boys like what they see when i bend
over i am a perfect jump shot float
when i pout i’m the chemical
sprayed on canyon fires
when i look at a boy he is not the now
he is who he wanted to be at six
cop doc goalie before he grew
scared of heights and his mom
before his capture
i’m exotic shell he wants to crack it
here’s what i’m not good at
long division but i take real good
pictures i’m good at black and white
i’m paid to seem sillier than i am
people pay to watch someone
ride me i am inevitable as whitecaps
i’m not sure how long i’ll live
i sometimes wonder what the name
beneath my name really is
and some nights after everyone has gone
it is quiet and i listen to my own breaths
wonder if a current will take me
or if there is a day i should not
have an audience
i close my eyes then something floods
a song i knew it is low and rolling
it moans my name it calls me
back to a body of water
i can barely remember
Beth Bigler is a writer, dramaturg, and reality television producer who has developed numerous unscripted series, including The Real Housewives of Atlanta. She is a proud graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy, New York University (BFA) and Goddard College (MFA). Her stage plays have been produced in New York and Los Angeles. Recent writing appears in Mead: The Magazine of Literature and Libations, Cheek Teeth, and Enizagam. Beth is wild about karaoke, pole dancing, and cetaceans. She resides in Los Angeles.