A curse for her, a lifeline for others. Elaine, to save you from yourself, we sentenced you to a half life. You knew, to be safe, you must never leave. Never leave your home that towered the frozen rivers that encircled your island. Never gaze too long out your only window. But Elaine, why live like this? Snow falls all […]
Persephone ran through the ravine, Hair of molten bronze trailing after her. Eyes glittering with liquid aquamarine, Crimson liquid staining her sage slipper. The winds were her sleeves, The grass her stockings, The leaves her veil. Persephone ran, A trail of violets and lilies appearing where she stepped, Sun-kissed skin, the colour of the earth Shone in the moonlight. She […]
There’s a tree that grows inside of my body. He absorbs my blood, my heart is his own. There are branches filling up my lungs; I cannot breathe. His roots are piercing my skin, My freckles are outnumbered by splinters. Pollen rains down on us like a storm of springtime snow. It poisons our waters, And now, barbed wire grows […]
Eleanor? The wind whispers, No one else knows your name. You walk again, A stranger’s voice echoes on Eleanor? Glass shatters on marble tiles, You see a silhouette from the corner of your eye. There’s no one here. Eleanor? Your eyes stare back at you, They’re a different shade of blue than what you remember. Eleanor, is it you? Truth […]
I have leaves for memories. They fall from my heart and I keep them between book pages, An album of moments that I wish to forget, But cannot bear to. My heartstrings are the roots of my childhood. They made me who I am, But they are so hidden, so deeply buried within me, That reliving them feels like watching […]
I have a bed made from thornes of roses. I welcome the pain as I lay on it at night. Petals brush against my skin, thorns dig into my flesh. They lay into their dents, they’re at home in artificial dimples. My body has altered itself to accommodate them. They are part of me. The pain is everlasting, I rejoice […]
Present My mother was never one to protect her children from anything they might scar, or scare, them. Life is tough, the sooner you get used to it, the better. While most children watched cartoons and read fairy tales, I grew up with her black and white horror tapes. Darkness, spirits, and cults became my playmates. I remember watching her […]
There’s two worlds: mine, and other people’s. The first is a sea of fine sand, contained in an elevator shaft. It reaches up to my thighs. There’s a glimmer of sunshine coming in through the surface, not enough to lighten up the place, only to overcast it with penumbra. A vast expansion of emptiness. There’s nowhere to go, I’ve been […]
I keep a dagger beside my bed, it has a dull, rough blade and the softest, white marble handle. It’s the first thing people notice when they visit, and I reassure them it’s to protect myself, in case of intruders. For once, I’m not lying. But I’m lying in bed and I can’t breathe. I know what’s happening right now, […]
Surrounded by onyx waves, the island that for years has been my home and prison. There’s a myriad of doors, all leading to the same place differently. To a room with walls studded in paintings of stormy oceans. To another submerged, eggshell corals growing on window sills. My favourite opens up on the beach. Burgundy grains of sand, engraved with […]