Written by Laura Hannett
You hypocrites, you merciless,
you will learn
what coils
in the shadow
of my rigid, vulture wings:
A storm-system cobra-head,
seizing the winds,
raising them—whip’s lash—
to fling them,
cracking,
out,
with glass,
with bone shards,
scoured from the gutters,
flaying every hilltop,
every corner,
every gully.
Nothing will be safe.
Nothing outward,
nothing inward.
Take your mouthful
of splinters.
I’ll strip your sins
carcass-clean.
.
Laura Hannett’s poems have appeared inBelladonna’s Garden, Sheila-Na-Gig, Willows Wept Review, Midnight Ink, andAbandoned Mine, among others. She has also contributed to several anthologies, including Go, The Prayer Has Been Sent (Orenaug Mountain Publishing) and the forthcoming Into the Deep, Dark Woods (WordFire Press). Her micro-chapbook, Little Songs Brought in from Outside, was published by the Origami Poems Project. She pursues her quest for the right words in Central New York.