Between her petals her lips whispered

we spread ourselves in the garden

she created out of cardboard

and bubblewrap,

merlot in place of ambrosia

grocery deli charcuterie

cradled by bruised knees

orange cheese bright

But she knew how magic hid in the corners

ran between crooked linoleum

rolled itself into lint

and our knees pressed together

prickly and hot while

she teased the magic out

of the knots in our hair.

She was brighter than she should be

brighter than unnatural dyes

brighter than me.

Dull, inert

until her lips met mine

until her song touched

my lungs.

And we found it together;

she was a siren

or a banshee

or something in between.

I kissed her anyway,

not caring whether love

or rape

made her unbroken,

not caring if our world crumbled

when our legs intertwined

our magics meeting in fire

no one will stop

this time.

Marisca Pichette is a queer author wandering the woods of Western Massachusetts. Her work has appeared in Strange Horizons, Fireside Magazine, Room Magazine, Enchanted Living, and Plenitude Magazine, among others. Her debut poetry collection, Rivers in Your Skin, Sirens in Your Hair, is forthcoming from Android Press in Spring 2023. Find her on Twitter as @MariscaPichette and Instagram as @marisca_write.