| I traded my skin for scales from a peddler I met on the road with reptilian eyes and a nasty smoking habit he coughed and hacked and said, “god, you look like a dragon” in awe? in fear? in pride? his tone was obscured by smoke and mirrors he clarified, “but in a good way” and added a wink for good measure |
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| I gave my skin To a woman I met at a crossroads. She will need it More than I ever did, For her voice is honey and roses And her heart is strawberry mousse And I still have dragon breath For when I have to fight fire with fire. My words sounded blurred As they came through her lips, But winking her eyes was pure pleasure. |
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Gretchen Tessmer lives in the deep woods of the U.S./Canadian borderlands. She’s published short stories and poems in such venues as Nature, Bourbon Penn, Strange Horizons, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and F&SF, as well as a few previous appearances in Kaleidotrope, with her poetry collecting several Pushcart, Rhysling and Dwarf Stars nominations along the way.
Anatoly Belilovsky is a Russian-American author and translator of speculative fiction. |