“Cash or Credit”

to him
replying with
i love you
is like
paying with credit when
he only accepts cash.
he demands tangible compensation.
he desires golden dollars–
shiny girls whom he can
touch and feel and use.
he wants to
hold their faces
in his
greedy palms and
say with covetous eyes
you are mine.

Lexy Courneya is a college freshman whose infatuation with poetry began 6 years ago. Since then, she has written countless poems on topics ranging from natural phenomena to homophobia in Russia. Her work has appeared in 8 issues of the national literary arts magazine Teen Ink. She is best known for her contemporary haikus, including the award-winning “How the Clouds Formed.” Her most recent self-published books, Bloom and Bloom: The Deluxe Edition, are collections of differently-styled poems which chronicle her journey through abuse, sexual violence, and mental health struggles. Lexy’s ultimate goal is to raise awareness about sexual violence in a country pervaded by sexism, rape culture, and “locker room talk.”