thistle
she’s a princess who romances thorns
wears necklaces of needle-sharp pearls
plucked from her father’s brow
strung on mother’s graying hair
if you try to steal a kiss she will give
you her lips plucked fresh from the stem
twin pink shells of flesh sitting soft in your palm
whispering hallelujah notes to your shame
her shame
is colorblind // ravens are her only friends
for fear of her turning against them too
hemlock
we get married on the breast of night
how slow she breathes when we dip our heels
how weak her cries for release when we kneel
upon the broken eaves of her sternum
i have nothing for you to suckle at, she says
no stars to milk from my nipples
/oh!/ foolish woman of constellations
we have no need of nourishment
we have buried all vestiges of mother
father too resides in earthen slumber
we are here in boundless yearning
to rip off the band-aid of the moon
exposing our love to the cowardly sun
rue
you miss
his smell // his touch
the rot of him
between your legs
in dark fields
lambs dream
of kissing
wolves’ teeth
,,,carrion cannot reshape his joy,,,
let termites wait upon your beloved
let uneaten marrow serve your court
for what love has crowned
let nothing as petty as life abdicate
Elena Sichrovsky is a queer Austrian-Taiwanese writer currently living in the Netherlands. She’s passionate about exploring queer and feminine themes through the lens of horror. Her work has been published in Nightmare, Sublunary Review, Mythaxis, Ninth Letter, ergot press, and others. You can follow her on Twitter @ESichr or read more on her website.
