by cassandra de alba
Love finds you on a beach
with dirty hair. Love finds you
breathless, spluttering and uncertain,
but love has kind eyes and soft hands
and love leads you to his house,
an impossible palace glittering
with what you want. Love
feeds you breakfast. Love smiles
and smiles til your teeth show
too. Love has a floppy dog
who sleeps in your lap
and barks at the ocean.
Love has an important job.
Love goes to meetings; love goes
away for weeks, leaves you
in his echoing halls. Love
takes the dog. Love takes your heart,
keeps it in a golden box, shows
it to you whenever you ask,
but love is gone more and more
and he takes the box with him,
leaves you cold and gaping,
leaves you dancing on switchblades,
on swiss army knives, on your own
bloody legs.
Cassandra de Alba’s work has appeared in Moonsick Magazine, The Nervous Breakdown, Drunk in a Midnight Choir, and Best Indie Lit New England, among other publications. Her chapbook habitats is forthcoming from horse less press. She lives in Medford, MA.
Art: “NOLA Bust” by Michelle Johnsen
Michelle Johnsen (art editor) is a nature and portrait photographer in Lancaster, PA, as well as an amateur herbalist and naturalist. Her work has been featured by It’s Modern Art, Susquehanna Style magazine, Permaculture Activist magazine, EcoWatch.com, EarthFirst! Journal, Lancaster Farm Fresh Cooperative, and used as album art for Grandma Shake!, Anna & Elizabeth, and Liz Fulmer Music. Michelle’s photos have also been stolen by AP, weather.com, The Daily Mail, and Lancaster Newspapers. You can contact her at mjphoto717 [at] gmail.com.