Metamorphosis

Image of Long Story Short Award - Fall 2020
Image of Poetry
Consider her a threat
tread lightly when she’s near
for everything’s becoming clear,
and fleeting fires fight and flare
the sparks cling to her raven hair.

Convulsing, vomits up her heart,
the bloody stone
and cuts it open all to share
out comes china dinnerware.
Beware, beware.

She sheds her old snakeskin mask
crawling, raw as a babe.
Her new skin smooth and fake and fair
this prison has become her lair
oh god beware beware beware.


Your flowery friends eat her oxygen.
So she makes do on CO2,
hoodies weigh her down, those straight jackets
so she sheds those too.
And once she’s out of your labyrinth
and takes a breath of real air
oh
beware.
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