3 Poems by Bai Rhodus

Consumption

 

This is the logic behind

My enduring impulse

To swallow glass:

 

When it’s broken right

It almost looks

Like diamonds

Like sugar

And I want to know

What breaking right

Tastes like

 

 

Imbalanced

 

Your eyes are empty

Sometimes I could even convince myself

I could see the outline of the ghost

That emptied them

Over your shoulder

 

I am old enough to know better

Than to stand here and let myself bleed

For someone looking for those long

Missing pieces of themselves

That my hands have never held

 

Your eyes are empty

I should know better than to stand here

Knowing that I am not the one who

Can put the life back inside them

 

But even without their light

Those eyes are so fucking beautiful

That I’d give you mine

 

 

 

Aposematic

 

These soft words bend and shape

Themselves for me as they fall

Like rose petals between my teeth

And darling believe me when I say

 

They will turn to thorns in your grasp

They’ll bury toxins under your skin

And I’ll use what’s left in their wake

To paint these venomous lips

So they’ll be that pretty red

You said you liked

 

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Bai Rhodus is an illustrator and writer from Cincinnati who draws from modern gothic subculture, classic gothic literature and her experiences as a gothic member of the LGBTQ+ for her art. https://www.instagram.com/bitterbunnyartworks/