Be fey. Be extra.
Get your M.A.
from the invisible school.
Rescue a false cat for effect.
Hag up.
Be the best at math
among your sisters.
Study your whole life
to fail this epic.
Text Gwen:
read her […] til day
breaks you both.
Send a poisoned apple
for Valentine’s. Burst
some knight by accident.
All to make her grey eyes
brim with laughter.
Feel her cool, dry hands,
soft vellum against
your crow feathers.
Follow her across fields,
to a sheltered spot. Vole
on your toe. The spell
already working.
Let your flesh weather
to forgiving stone. Quartz
for blood. No king
will ever find you.
How do we survive Camelot?
Her mossy smile. The moment
before it all unknots
when she chooses you
one last time.
Jes Battis
Jes Battis (he/they) teaches literature and creative writing at the University of Regina in Saskatchewan, Canada. Their work appears in issues of The Puritan, The Capilano Review, Strange Horizons, Contemporary Verse 2, Ghost City Review, and Poetry is Dead, among other journals. They’re also the author of the Occult Special Investigator series and Parallel Parks series, both with Penguin Books.
Artwork: Rob Woodcox
Website: RobWoodcox.com
