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I. Forest Blues The grab of trees is nothing.I’m hip to their enchantments,their impenetrable leavings; they oughtto be less obvious when calling the windsfor a ride. Their branches out them every time.There is always one struggling to smother a laugh,always a pair curving like arms, always a skeletalbeckoning, a threatContinue Reading

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It never rainsin the Gingerbread Forestbecause that would be catastrophic—houses turned to mush,the occupants smotheredbeneath a slurry of crumbled walls,delicious but deadly. You’d thinkthat endless sunshinewould be a lovely thing,but it’s not.Even filteredthrough leaves and branches,the light is too constant,too bright,too much. As for those trees,deprived of rainthey are forcedtoContinue Reading

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PADUA, ITALY 1844 Curious young scholar from NaplesWandered into a fertile private gardenHe first saw through his guest bedroom window.By an unusual purple shrub with botanical gems, an exquisite bloom stood Slender, alluring, barely comingInto womanhood. Her scent,Cloying like lavender. Her touch,Lethal like aconite. The maiden Her famous scientist fatherCalledContinue Reading

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my cat considersmy body a locationhome embraces him Aletha Irby is very grateful to have been granted this time, on this planet, to spend with the English language. Her personal library includes books of poetry, books about cats (fiction and nonfiction), history books, novels, short story collections, mysteries, horror stories,Continue Reading

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after Margaret Atwood’s “Happy Endings” You’ve heard this tale a thousand times in a thousand different ways, but there was a girl thousands of years ago on some stupid island or peninsula whose face launched a thousand ships..The story starts, as always, with Zeus. Either it starts because he turnsContinue Reading

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I should have known there was acatch. I thought my new husbandwas the catch, but that was before hetook me home to his dark house ofshadowy secrets, of strange pluckingsof the sleeve of my soul, of sudden clammycoldness creeping across my face the momentI set foot in the house he’dContinue Reading

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I follow the trailthrough the angry treesas the wily wind whips leavesoff their skinny armsand throws them to the ground.The trail is littered with gold and brownobscuring the path.I am lost in a storm of coming autumnand do not knowwhere my footsteps should fall–enveloped in sunlight and cold–alone beneath theContinue Reading

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She cornersit in the parlor. She tramps downon its tail,watches as itfrantically runs in place. She carries itshivering in her teeththen, as if overcomeby a spark of kindness,puts it down on the floor,but, as it’s aboutto dash to freedom,she bites down hardon the poor thing,cracks its back,gnaws away at itsfleshContinue Reading

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You were maroon and indigoA kaleidoscope of a personYour body floated like cloudsAnd you looked at me like something with wings and feathersYou looked like starlight encircling planetsLike you left moonbeams instead of footprintsI loved you like a cloud, like something just passing through.But if clouds are just vapor(Just waterContinue Reading

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When Grief moved in the only room The Dandies had available was the space under the roll top secretary that skipped generations just to live in the basement / An entire paycheck pushed the desk from one unfinished basement right into another & if it were up to Grief inContinue Reading