Snow skin, pink cheeks, 
smooth brow, brown peeps, 
blue lips, chiseled teeth, 
black tongue, banshee shrieks, 
rough palms, tiptoe creep, 
needle claws, lack of sleep. 

Her life is lovely, dark, and deep: 
a storybook lie so no one sees 
spread spider-veins, stained memories — 
the blood-red soul she should not keep.  

AUGUST 2022 UPDATE: Obviously, if you go looking, the below tentative date fell through. In between not finding a good cover, changing the name, adding and removing poems, and working on other collections simultaneously, this one got WAY pushed back. New tentative release date is February of 2023. And there is a cover! The new title is “The Soul Without a Summer” referencing the year 1816 and both themes of the book — depression and climate change. I’ve already updated the other preview poems to reference the new title and date. This information can also be found in a newer post, but I’m adding it here in case you stumble upon this post first, or re-visit this poem before catching up with my current stuff. END OF UPDATE.

I published my first collection in May of this year, but I’m already hard at work organizing the next one. Tentative release date is Spring of 2021. It is titled “Dystopia Down.”

It’s as depressing as it sounds, full of ruminations on the events of this year, my own personal depression and grief I’ve struggled with for over a decade, and some fictional depictions of grief I’ve yet to experience. Trigger warnings are involved. This poem was a bit lighter in tone, still dark but in a fun way. I thought it would be appropriate as a preview, a little taste of what’s coming. There will be a few more previews like this one over the following months, so stay tuned.