one. how beauty is tarnished
What was he to you?
Tomb velvet pockmarks. A jeweled scorpion’s tail, a magpie’s gaze. Bright as elven chandeliers.
The sea in the harbor, flashing under storm light, pierced diamond hail.
Hubris and dark wine and exquisite ruin.
Who was he to you?
A fatal miscalculation. A mausoleum key. The only one who knew I’d been buried alive.
two. a beautiful thing
It’s all right to keep hiding
beneath gold and starlight. To only show your face in the curve of the moon.
Touch me through silk water. A whispering fountain reflection. Through the rustle of scales.
You’d send the constellations to watch over me.
You don’t have to be a feral cat, slinking through the alleyways. You can be a painted lantern,
bright as truth against the sky.
Bio: Kayla Bashe is a student from the New York area. Her poetry has appeared in Strange Horizons, Liminality Magazine, and Cicada.
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The Cabinet of Heed 