don't die press

excerpt by Suzanne Ondrus
from The Death of an Unvirtuous Woman

The incident began Saturday night:
First stab
into her ear,
    that perceived the babies’ colic
and scarlet fever wails.
    A slice from
the side
    of her mouth
out through her
        cheek
    that never was on a pillow
more than five hours.
He thrust
    through and
through
    creating
trenches.
    She screamed,
pounded back.
    With the corn knife, she could do
the corn fast, ten ears in three minutes.

Watch for the rest of the poem, and more from Suzanne Ondrus, in S/tick 4.2, coming your way soon!

In the meantime, visit Suzanne at suzanneondrus.com, and order her book at www.littleredtree.com/suzanne-ondrus! @suzanneondrus

An excerpt of “The Savior” by Kika Dorsey

You said your hunting was only sacrifice,

to put the red heart of elk on table.

You said your climbing ladders

was a way to hang me

on the red dawn of ambition,

that every father is dead,

every son a climber,

and I said I never chose to live with sacrifice,

and now all I know is loss.

Read the rest of “The Savior” in the upcoming S/tick Issue 4.2, chock-full of feminist creative writing and artwork. And check out more from Kika at her website, kikadorsey.com.