My
touchpaper torso is the source of the hex / flickers of green and red fire / purify
me / scorch tendrils /
stop the slink up my spine
my spine a
spindle / mouldy petals dusted black / each withered leaf a knock I’ve taken / every
hateful fraction
of a second stored below my waist / twisted like a sow’s tail / waiting
waiting for the craving to save me / heat of seeds / stems / skin / a
gulp of vinegar / cauterises vines / cuts the killing thorns above the root / trims
dead weight back / until the next waning moon
---
Kate
Garrett writes and edits. Her work is widely published, recently or forthcoming
in Atrium, Allegro, 8 Poems, Déraciné, Ghost City Review, Kissing
Dynamite, and others. Her first full collection, The saint of milk and flames, is forthcoming
from Rhythm & Bones Press in April 2019. Born in rural southern Ohio, Kate
moved to the UK in 1999, where she still lives in Sheffield with her husband,
children, and a sleepy cat. Twitter @mskateybelle / www.kategarrettwrites.co.uk
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