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Poems

The Eggshell Heart

By Brianna Ferguson From Issue No. 5

The boy,

scared shitless his girl’s gonna leave,

takes to filling a needle at night and

stabbing her in the thigh

with whatever they have in the fridge:

margarine,

mayonnaise,

things all gooey and

sweet like her .

She’s just so fine,

you get her fat,

ain’t nobody gonna want her.

A year later tho

she dies of an eggshell heart

and then nobody has her.

Nobody says goodbye neither.

The address ain’t right in the email.

The boy goes alone.

He holds her hand,

and damn if she don’t smell good!

Just one bite, that’s all he wants.

He swears!

But they don’t listen.

Now he’s in the clink,

and she’s seasoning all his

bland-ass prison food.

Damn she was good, he says,

smackin’ his lips,

pushin’ her into that

porcelain ring.

About Brianna Ferguson More From Issue No. 5