this country will require you to be magical then attempt to burn you for being a witch

Girl-child, power-in-waiting, Revolution, 

this world will try to cleave you

in half, reach inside—

lay waste, leave you

a bloody mess of seed,

pulp, carved out meat—

pick your bones

attempt to harness your sweet

for a world full

of eager carrion birds.

 

Transfigurate:

flower, fruit, fire—

unfurl an inferno

curling coils down

your devil back.

Scorch them with your flame

tongue. Remind them you

predate evangelism;

leave them ashes,

burn them down—

teach them our bodies

are best left alone.

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Angelique Zobitz has recently been published in So to Speak: a feminist journal of language + art, Junto Magazine, and Geeky Press' Hoosier Lit Anthology, with additional work forthcoming in Sugar House Review. She lives in the Midwest with her husband and daughter, and their two rescue dogs.