Cauldron Anthology Issue 3: Year 1 Collection Cauldron Anthology Year One Issue FINAL 1.17.18 | Page 24

Love’s Entrails Chiara Sullivan Her fingers trailing my skin Feels like nerve endings torn open in a surgery of lies. Of: you are mine Of: I am yours Her lips speak of death and destruction, But all I hear is the cacophony of her vowels And the delicacy of her consonants. She’s bad for you, people say, And I ignore their words Because I live in a world where violence is love, And love is softness, And softness is death, And death is obsolete. So with smiles and nods of assurance I tell them I’m fine. Fine like: a sharpened pencil scratching out song lyrics on a school desk Fine like: the edges of teeth snagging on flesh Fine like: I’m drowning but it’s okay, she breathes for me Fine like: I can’t save myself, not this time Fine like Fine like Fine like My world is a kaleidoscope and she’s the one turning, constantly turning Everything upside down And me inside out.