The one with the delicate ankles, whom Hadês

seized.*

I eat my dreams with a knife and fork

chopped into bite-sized pieces

all six of Persephone’s swallows

dark juice dribbling down.

Death comes to me, again,

pressing her chapped mouth to the door

until she leaves a wet ring in the wood

mauve arms encircling me like Dawes Gap

dim of night following her in on all fours

like the lumber of a soft black dog.

It’s not as terrible as you’ve been told,

she says, taking my cheeks in two hands,

rings scraping the skin

pale as the blood of butterflies—

her grip so tight she nearly cracks my mandible

eyes leaking out like egg yolks.

Morning scratches its yellow back against the windows again,

cupboards bare

paring knife sud soaked in the sink

my hunger simpler than soft soap

The whispered lecture of the wall clock

teaching me not to want.

*http://www.uh.edu/~cldue/texts/demeter.html#_ftn1

Laura Ingram is a tiny girl with big glasses and bigger ideas. Her poetry and prose have been published in over sixty magazines and journals, among them Gravel, Tallow Eider Quarterly, and Glass Kite anthology. Laura's first book, a collection of poetry, was released May 2018 with Desert Willow Press, and her second book, a children's story, was released August 2018 with Nesting Tree Books of Raven Publishing. Laura is a creative writing undergraduate and part-time editor. Harry Styles once gave her his water bottle.

Image by Melissa

#poetry #vol8 #lauraingram #persephone