the dead ask of me
by Marisca Pichette
the dead ask of me
why do you scorn us?
why, every day, you shut out the cold,
the dark, the filth—
everything that serves as
memory: where you were
where we are
where you will be.
hinges snap and they ask and ask—
what made you hate the earth? What
made you hate
decay and hurt and worms?
What made you loathe to glimpse
our faces filled with soil?
What made you, after all?
the door closes over my head
and they ask me—beg me—
just one favor.
Take your fingers
and dig deep into our flesh.
Take a handful of us
and smell the freshness
of time.
About the Author
Marisca Pichette is a queer author whose work has appeared in Strange Horizons, Fireside Magazine, Room Magazine, Ligeia Magazine, PseudoPod, and Plenitude Magazine, among others. Her debut poetry collection, Rivers in Your Skin, Sirens in Your Hair, is forthcoming in spring 2023 from Android Press. Find her on Twitter as @MariscaPichette and Instagram as @marisca_write.