Size / / /

Content warning:


1.

 

at twelve you are Cassandra

sitting on the rooftop with your mouth full of snakes

 

you know already your body will rot

like a peony, over-plump

and full of starving ants

 

you know your flesh will mangle itself

as it has begun already

 

2.

 

it helps to think of yourself as an animal

 

a dog, a horse, something to thump

the flank of and inhale their earthy scent

and whisper sweet meaningless things

into their ears

 

a body that runs and eats and sleeps

and smells of sweat and mud

and is stroked long and loving each night

after a job well done

 

3.

 

it helps to think of yourself as a painting

 

impressionists, renaissance, flesh adored

in wild color and gorgeous light

 

the bodies of round-hipped maidens desired

by no less than bulls and gods

 

4.

 

it’s all about the lighting

we all know this

purchase lipstick in a hundred shades

 

chin out, mouth open

flaunt your teeth like candy

flick your tongue like a snake

hold the shutter down

and do not let go

 

5.

 

we are learning how to disappear completely

into the void of ourselves

 

6.

 

your body is like an empty frame

waiting for marriage

 

your soul is a portrait in blood

and invisible ink

 

you polish yourself like a pearl each morning

this art is subjective

you tell yourself that



Margaret Wack is a writer, poet, and classicist whose work has been published in Strange Horizons, Liminality, Twisted Moon, and others.  More can be found at margaretwack.com.
Current Issue
4 Nov 2024

“Did you know,” the witch says, “that a witch has no heart of her own?”
Outsiders, Off-worlders {how quickly one carves out a corner of the cosmos, / claims a singular celestial body as [o u r s] in the scope of infinity}
Lunar enby folks across here
Wednesday: The 2024 Ignyte Award for Best Novel Shortlist, Part Two 
Friday: A Place Between Waking and Forgetting by Eugen Bacon 
Issue 28 Oct 2024
Issue 21 Oct 2024
By: KT Bryski
Podcast read by: Devin Martin
Issue 14 Oct 2024
Issue 7 Oct 2024
By: Christopher Blake
Podcast read by: Emmie Christie
Issue 30 Sep 2024
Issue 23 Sep 2024
By: LeeAnn Perry
Art by: nino
Issue 16 Sep 2024
Issue 9 Sep 2024
Issue 2 Sep 2024
Issue 26 Aug 2024
Load More