This morning I wanted to send you a photo essay: The Year in Volcanic Activity by Marisa Silva-Dunbar

You’d see the beauty in a fountain of lava, fires spreading

across the blacktop, the necessity of creation after destruction.

I drink tea—try to swallow my suspicions with lemon and honey,

the bright sweetness doesn’t stop my obsession with destruction.

Monday, I will try not to disintegrate—try to unravel the lies,

how you once wanted a weak girl who shared the same type of destruction.

I find ways to eviscerate your former paramours in conversation

with others; I have been leisurely indulging in my own destruction.

Sometimes I want to spill the secrets that I keep from you;

I see ghosts around every corner—they poke at my fear of destruction.

My anxiety is death by a thousand cuts—yours a slow suicide;

we do our own dances with the Grand Dame and Varlet—Destruction

Even on the days when I rage alone, I long for the nights curled next to you

tracing sigils on your back to protect you from self-destruction.

Archetypes sewn in my bones—I’ve mastered the Earth Mother & Maiden,

but I want to be your Femme Fatale—harnessing the power of destruction.

There are times I want to runaway—Marisa won’t live here anymore;

You must call me back, and promise there is no need for destruction.

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Marisa Silva-Dunbar is a Pushcart nominated poet. Her work has been featured in: Royal Rose Magazine, Pussy Magic, Bone & Ink, Amaryllis, Midnight-Lane Boutique, and Constellate Literary Journal. She graduated from the University of East Anglia with her MA in poetry. Marisa is the founder and EIC of Neon Mariposa Magazine. She has work forthcoming in Honey & Lime, The Charles River Journal, Dark Marrow, and Apathy Press. You can follow her on Twitter @thesweetmaris.