like I
was never
hammered into
a ship, cast adrift
on my unending
body, my hunger cut
loose as a star’s–
witness to a cinema of fossils
playing in the next galaxy
over. Here, see
your custom carrion:
the bloody spine
of me extended past
the sheets
of waves and past
my voiceless
wishes. Back on firmer ground,
I draped myself before
so many wrecks
for you, trying
to catch mutilation
on my tongue
so I could kiss it into you
first. Now
look at me, salt spiked
into my skin,
my north
obliterated.
Lily Beaumont’s poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in publications including Prolit, Star 82 Review, and Crow & Cross Keys. She has an MA in English from Brandeis University and currently lives in Central Texas, where she works as a curriculum/study guide developer and editor.