am I the girl | cursed to live inside the skeleton of a calf
or the calf cursed to die
to be cut apart | & entered
I thought if I asked you | if you taught me the alphabet & washed my face
but no | the curse
the girl aching inside the calf
where once there were eyes | women pass her candles | rivers of stars & bread
where once there were answers & after | where the bones
open | where the white meadows | kneel to kiss her whiskered neck
how far does she run | what other womb will have her
Melissa Atkinson Mercer
Melissa Atkinson Mercer is the author of the forthcoming poetry collection Saint of the Partial Apology (Five Oaks Press) as well as five poetry chapbooks, including My Own Strange Beast (Porkbelly Press) and ghost exhibit (Glass Poetry Press). Her work has recently appeared in Menacing Hedge, Literary Orphans, Blue Earth Review, and others. She has an MFA from West Virginia University.
Artwork: Natalia Drepina
Website: http://nataliadrepina.deviantart.com/
Gingerbread House Lit Mag 
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