Monstrous Image, Avra Margariti

Keep your eyes on me

I say, those molten cores

Of far-off stars searing

The firmament of her face

Like twin cigarette burns.

Incandescent conundrum,

My Cinderella made of iron,

Oxygen and helium.

Look at me, I say.

I want her to look at me

As I pick up the World Knife

I stole from my unseelie fairy godparent

And rend this universe apart

As if it were a tinfoil crown,

Craft paper gown,

Glass slipper shattered

Into an avalanche of shooting stars.

Never look away, I say

As I remake this world

In my monarch butterfly’s

Monstrous image.

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Avra Margariti is a queer author, Greek sea monster, and Pushcart-nominated poet with a fondness for the dark and the darling. Avra’s work haunts publications such as Vastarien, Asimov’s, Liminality, Arsenika, The Future Fire, Space and Time, Eye to the Telescope, and Glittership. “The Saint of Witches”, Avra’s debut collection of horror poetry, is forthcoming from Weasel Press. You can find Avra on twitter (@avramargariti).