in honor of ~spooky season~ coming up, i've attempted to write a lil haunting poem for y'all :))
here's the prompt i used for this: "witching hour madness"
and i'm SO SORRY about the poem requests i haven't gotten to yet!! i like to put a lot of time and thought into those, and lately i've just been so busy. if i wrote one now, it'd probably be shit... so uh as soon as i have the time, i'll get to work on those <3
anyway, this is random but i'm BEYOND excited to read "this is how you lose the time war" by amal el-mohtar and max gladstone. oh my god. listen to this: SAPPHIC TIME-TRAVELING RIVALS.
-----
i've kept skeletons in my chest,
tangled up in my ribs.
my own bones have been
hollowed out
—the marrow lost
in the witching hour madness,
in the haze of pungent smoke
spilling over the edge of the cauldron
containing my dissipating, bubbling soul—
echoing endlessly
with the whispers
that can't pass my lips
lest i let my nightmares
roam my reality,
rule it
like hungry gods
eager to shove my limbs
down their raw throats.
with every shallow breath
i take in,
the dead rattle inside,
clawing closer to my lungs
so that they may steal
one
last
breath.
when did i become a graveyard?
cursed to be the home
of those who lie restless.
i can feel every ache, every yearning
carving through them,
piercing the gaps between the ivory,
the places we think empty
but are filled and bursting
with the memory of touch, of pain.
i've kept skeletons in my chest,
these dead girls,
these haunted versions of myself
i've shrugged off
like snakeskin,
shutting them away
behind the bars
of my teeth,
not letting them speak
even when they slash
their words
into my tongue.
the pain sharpens
and blossoms
like a hellish flower
of ruby fire
and metallic vengeance.
my dead girls
whisper about
the dripping, crimson bouquet
they'll bring to my wake.
love,
mari