Star LaBranche was born exactly one month before Jem and the Holograms aired on television. The poet currently resides in Virginia Beach, VA, she works at ECPI University in Content Marketing and attends classes in their Business Administration program. Star describes herself as a dedicated cat mom, and enjoys quiet evenings at home with her Maine Coon mix, Happy Cat. With a transparent use of language, LaBranche’s poems reflect on the pains of love, identity and being a woman in today’s world.
SELF
I cast myself as the greatest lover
who had ever lived
simply no one was willing to do what
I did to make you fulfilled and after
all I sacrificed, my title could not be
disputed
and isn’t that how it works?
isn’t love supposed to be the giving of yourself so completely
there’s no self left for you
you live to be everything someone
else needs until you don’t remember that
you once had those same needs, too
that’s right —
right?
that’s the only
way I know how
**
Photos by Melania Brescia.
