p e a r l e s c e n t | a letter to myself following abuse
Bare your wild teeth at me
But all I see is the gummy interim;
You are soft, as you fold,
Despite the pristine incisors.
Put your bird bones in my palms,
And I will shine them pearlescent—
Black and blue, glimmering.
p a t i o d o x o l o g y
here is shade and peace,
my Chattanoogan Garden of Eden.
i worship myself here.
praise be to prickly pear knees
smokebush skin
and peach fuzz thighs—
i am light, i am light
if only the whole world saw.
this is not sacrilege,
just a new denomination:
me, loving myself.
a n u c l e a r b l u e
i felt the natural teeth and the rubber tree,
how they have peace and blessings,
so clean.
(how hard and soft,
being a virgin.)
my love is nuclear fears :
part blue.
Lily Tice is a writer and illustrator who splits her time as an editorial intern for C&R Press and as a toy seller at a quaint toy shop in Chattanooga, TN. She additionally serves as a staff poet for The Narrator, a barnacle at her local coffee shop, and curator of an unearthly number of books. Her work has appeared in Panoply, The Thorn, The Bagpipe, and Sunspot Magazine and she was nominated for a 2018 Pushcart Prize in Poetry.