Gina Marie Bernard

Gina Marie Bernard is a heavily tattooed trans woman, retired roller derby vixen, and high school English teacher from Bemidji, Minnesota. Her daughters, Maddie and Parker, share her heart. Her work appears or is forthcoming in Not Very Quiet, Monkeybicycle, Penultimate Peanut, and Meow Meow Pow Pow. She has been nominated for Best of the Net, Best Small Fictions, and The Pushcart. Thirty West Publishing will release her third poetry chapbook, Taxonomies, in spring 2020. She is completing her MFA in Creative Writing at the University of Arkansas, Monticello.

CINNAMON by Gina Marie Bernard

February 10, 2020 · Fiction

“Your mother should have had them tear you from her womb,” my stepmom says. “For the wicked shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” I flinch but know better than to reply. “What the hell, Darlene? You can’t say that shit,” my dad says from his recliner in the living room. As usual, it sounds more like a request. “I speak the Lord’s truth,” she replies, emphasizing each syllable with the wooden spoon she has pointed at him. “He will not abide your daughter acting like some filthy dyke.” My father looks from her to me. He shrugs and mouths,…

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