or How Your Mouth Blooms in August

by Ashley Cline

consume me piecemeal / halve my body

like honeycrisp apples or something more holy

lonely lonely lonely, love, love me

 reconstruct me at sea level & call it

a homecoming, teacup girl—

milk-drunk on orchids & starving

consume me piecemeal / splinter my bones

into tinderbox fledglings dressed up in

gossamer fur & call me wilderness call me

impossible call me we hurtle we hurtle

 we hurtle we hurt, teacup girl—

bury your calcium howls here, beneath

the blueberries & halogen of my typewriter teeth

& consume me piecemeal / bring my hands

to your lips & watch how the earth builds

us a god we can call whole.

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An avid introvert and full-time carbon-based life-form, Ashley Cline crash landed in south Jersey and still calls that strange land home. Most often found listening to Carly Rae Jepsen, her essays on music and feelings have been published by Sound Bites Media; her poetry has appeared in 404 Ink and is forthcoming in Third Point Press and Francis House. She graduated from Rowan University in 2013 with a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism, and her best at all-you-can-eat sushi is 5 rolls in 11 minutes.