carbo animalis

I ate the charred bones // of the preacher’s son

watched it all go up in smoke

as I breathed in a dead man

scar tissue welding my flesh back in two.

lay the dead to rest // let them rise when ready

slash and burn the flowerbeds

make way for new carcasses

I count my memories as rosary // each of your sins a bead

between my gnarled claw.

and

if I put a match to this // what if

if I put a match to this

***

Juliana Schicho is a librarian and writer from New Jersey. She received her B.A. in Creative Writing from SUNY Geneseo, and you can read her poetry as well as fiction in Canyon Voices, Runestone Journal, MiNT Magazine, and Gandy Dancer.