notdeermag
i should have dated a chupacabra instead, Jessica Howatson
Updated: Apr 8, 2021
CW: implied physical/sexual assault
you told me you were a vampire
swore black and blue and
mottled yellow the next morning
swore with your hands on my unwilling body
feeling out the flesh for delicious and gratifying give
swore in a language you invented and claimed was older than time
unfamiliar characters that spelled out always
I am more special and more broken than you
I will sculpt your naivety and sympathy into penances
appeasing my appetites beneath your skin
swore for years I was misremembering
the night I learned you were a bloodsucker of a different kind
violating boundaries you
swore you didn't hear
leaving hollow bodies in your wake
Jessica Howatson (she/her) is a queer poet living in New Zealand with her husband and two preschoolers. She has words in Mayhem and takahē and work forthcoming in Small Leaf Press' JADEN. She writes because it's cheaper than therapy.