Sharpie Sharpened Blades

My deadname sneaks sharpied
On scissors hanging in the garage.
Dull blades hurt hardest:
Slip, slice
A buried boy’s thumb,
Chain-link fencing swallowed
By a tree. Wire
Scissors save the fence
By the edges, yet never
The tree, scabbed inside
By its companion.
The fence uproots itself
And forgets;
I cradle its blades inside.

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This poem is highlighted as a winner of the 2026 Wick Honors Poetry Scholarship.

Sage Hardiman

Sage Hardiman is a computer science major. Her work often confronts creation and identity, exploring fragments of science, poetry, the self, and what it means to be. They spend much of their free time writing poetry, writing code, and writing new stories with friends. Her work can also be found in Luna Negra magazine.