“Ship of Jinn” by Holly Lyn Walrath
What do men dream
at night before sleep?
My skin boils beneath ice
milk and cream curdling
uncoiling, it asks
not for forgiveness.
Close in the dark
their breath is victim
to the night
for I let in trigger finger
lust and blood masterpieces
I hollow out bones for
the jinn to sleep within
wicked cold and berged
in harbor orange lights.
Do you think it’s safe
beneath the sheets?
I fill our bed with
the corpses of men
filling the hollow
where he used to sleep
like creamy silk I’ve felt it
but I just wanted them for parts.
See I was making a dream
more real than reality
where his dark heart
could never find me.
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Holly Lyn Walrath‘s poetry and fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in Liminality, Abyss & Apex, Literary Orphans, and The Fem, among others. She wrangles writers as a freelance editor and volunteers with Writespace, a nonprofit literary center in Houston, Texas. Find her online @hollylynwalrath or hlwalrath.com. |