by Lucas Mancini
We were scared of our shadows. She looked
like she swallowed a moth, so I shined
a flashlight through my palm like a real
anglerfishhusband. Nothing I touch lightens
up or gets heavier, she could’ve guessed
I’d bite. Could’ve clung for dear life,
would’ve melted from teeth to tailfin, burnt up
in the orange belief of her, told chiaroscuro
horror stories with the beam
shifted chinfirst, all I wanted
bugs and all was to catch what light
bounced out of a throat fine
as hers, bioluminescent.
______
Lucas Mancini (@mangiafakir) has always been more scared of moths than spiders due to their larger number of degrees of freedom.
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