let’s talk about demise. you are my nuclear shadow. from the moment you intruded into my space
(                           EXISTENCE                          ) has swelled under your oppressive
breath

               it’s vile, the way you touch or think to touch
               your hands are smeared across my mind

               and on my memory of you

let’s talk about willingness. i am willing to visualize you as a burlesque abortion.
you’re an aftertaste i can’t mask with mint

              you are a hollow
              fizzling
              popping

       

             crinkling in the afterbirth of
             what we did
             what you did
             to me

 

 

 

horror fun time girl

i am husk. if you peel back the fungi shellac, you’ll find a bell. ring it, but only twice.

                    a light will burst from your chest and you will become a xenomorph
                    made of iridescent regrets and fractured geodes

 

who     was     left     in     your     body?

             some are afraid of empty spaces, carved circles, some of sunken cemented bodies

 

             i am a xenomorph too. i exploded from my own chest after i face-fucked myself.

             there was no consent when i was born.

 

 

 

don’t, little tongue, try to replicate. somewhere is the monolith, delving deep with sound,
magnetic sounds that drive us closer & closer. shield your mouth before the monolith worms in. the monolith is your genetic structure, aiming to make you a host. make your mouth a host. invading like a colonizer, but the colony is your own blood, boiling in your skin, tearing you apart. little tongue, keep your eyes closed, keep your legs closed, don’t let it mutate, don’t let the monolith replace your mouth.

 

 

Ashley Miranda is a latinx poet from Chicago. Her work has been previously featured by the Denver Quarterly, Yes, Poetry, Ghost City Review, Lockjaw Magazine, and Glass Poetry Press. She tweets impulsive poetry and other musings @dustwhispers. You can find out more about her at agirlaloof.com.