by Amanda McLeod
Kangaroo
A ‘kangaroo word’
is a word with a synonym
for itself held inside;
male in masculine,
bloom in blossom.
Clever
to hide yourself
in plain sight. To hold
the almost-you’s
within your folds, just out of reach, out of mind.
I am self-containing, too.
I contain led and
die and deal and denial but
also miracle if I search hard enough.
And that’s the miracle, isn’t it?
Believing I can,
within this body, hold other
impossible
truths.
Daniel Brennan (he/him) is a queer writer and coffee devotee from New York, where he lives in an apartment being slowly overtaken by stacks of books. His work has appeared in numerous publications, including Passengers Journal, The Banyan Review, Birdcoat Quarterly, Sky Island Journal, and The Pinch. He can be found on Twitter and Instagram: @dannyjbrennan
Amanda McLeod is an author and artist based in Canberra, Australia. A passionate nature advocate and citizen scientist, she’s often outdoors if she’s not creating in her studio. Her work has appeared in many places both in print and online, more recently The Big Issue and Meniscus Literary Journal. She loves coffee and quiet places. She’s on the socials against her better judgment, always at @AmandaMWrites.