Womanhood

by Hailey Spencer

A different sight, a stumble into love.
Soft lips and tongue, and she ignores the way
that bits of skin break off and float astray
each time she bathes within the castle’s tub.

She breaks her heart in two for the strange prince,
tears out the garden roses from the dirt
and when he speaks to her, it doesn’t hurt
and his clawed fingers never make her wince.

She hides herself away from walls that glower
and softly pulse each time her husband speaks.
He kisses her, lips pull taut over teeth.
At night, she climbs the castle’s highest tower.

Steps up onto the ledge to feel the breeze.
You are not trapped, he’s said, and she agrees.

Hailey Spencer is, in the words of her wife Elizabeth, an absolute cloud of a girl. She writes and creates collages in Seattle, Washington. Her debut poetry collection, Stories for When the Wolves Arrive, was published in 2022 by First Matter Press, where she now sits on the editorial board. For more on Hailey and her work, you can find her on Instagram @outofloveinspring and on her website haileyspencerwrites.com

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“…He kisses her, lips pull taut over teeth.
At night, she climbs the castle’s highest tower…”