Self-Portrait with Attachment Theory
self-portrait with a dark blue Tuesday, with her,
with him, with them. self-portrait with half a friend.
self-portrait with a siege of herons, with a loon
above marsh water, with your mom’s last name. self-
portrait with a fear of engulfment, with a city
devoid of quiet. self-portrait with a guarded citadel,
with gelatinous interiors. self-portrait with the library,
with anxiety for the unread paperbacks. self-portrait
with protection, with a black t-shirt. self-portrait with
crawling up the back of your shirt. self-portrait with
your shirt. self portrait with you. self-portrait with anyone
who knows how to do the laundry. self-portrait
with a cold shower. self-portrait with the hair between
my eyebrows, with closing the distance. self-portrait
with too much or too little. self-portrait with more
anxiety for the parts of me that will go unheld. self-
portrait with the heavy, with a soft sea change. self-
portrait with the shell, with building a home inside.
self-portrait with a small brown bird inside. self-
portrait with all these different kinds of birds
even though you really, really hate birds. self-
portrait with broken humour, with laughing anyways.
Kristen Kalicharan
Kristen Kalicharan (she/her) is an emerging writer and graphic artist residing in Vancouver, Canada. She is a recent winner of Button Poetry’s 2020 Short Form contest, and is currently working on a zine about boxes. You can find her on Instagram @kristenkalicharan and on Twitter @kristenkalico