Written by
Elena Botts

Elena grew up in the DC area, lived briefly in Berlin and Johannesburg, and now attends college in upstate New York. She's been published in fifty literary magazines over the past few years. She is the winner of four poetry contests, including Word Works Young Poets'. Her poetry has been exhibited at the Greater Reston Art Center and at Arterie Fine Art Gallery. Check out her poetry books, "we'll beachcomb for their broken bones" (Red Ochre Press, 2014), "a little luminescence" (Allbook-Books, 2011) and "the reason for rain" (Coffeetown Press, expected publication in fall 2015). Her visual art has won her several awards. Go to elenabotts.com [link] and o-mourning-dove.tumblr.com [link] to see her latest artwork.

after frostbite

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bitten, in fact they were
devoured by a thoughtless wind. i am glad
to watch the blood gather its tidal
solution and storm.

they never whitened, only dulled
into a passion. i will commiserate! i will
announce to everyone the swollen
buttresses that guard
an impassive skull.

my ears are healing, they are shedding skin that comes off.
i am afraid soon they will scuttle away like small crustaceans, but they will not.
at least they are no longer slabs
of red meat.

there is an insect calculation,
the shed wonder
of this-that-once-was, i am vanquished into
my own hands, not even a prayer of a petal,
merely skin.

and after, the color.
they are now soft, rounded
to hold light in.
i am no one, admiring them.

“Favourite girl.. Why wont you love me” by Maria Khan. 2016. Charcoal & Pastel On Canvas. 66 x 48 in.

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• A BIANNUAL LITERARY MAGAZINE BROUGHT TO YOU BY DESI WRITERS' LOUNGE •

Volume 17

Appetite - Spring 2017

Verse

after frostbite