Baubles From Bones: Issue 7
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Dark Artistry

J. Federle

A boar bristle brush. Camel bone

dice. A cue ball of polished ivory.

What of you, soft creature, could

endure? What trinket could your bones

become? When your muscles go to mud,

to what will your silver spirit cling?

Below a cherry wood vanity, a wild boar

huffs at the silk slippers of a girl

combing curls sweet as chestnuts.

A camel snorts, mingling with cigar smoke

as a man bets a gold watch. In the corner,

an elephant rolls an eye. Shifts. Floorboards

groan. Someone scratches green velvet,

cursing, certain the pool table is not level.

And you? Maker of morbid ornaments?

You turn in your wooden box, bound

to the enamel encasing your teeth.

Baubles From Bones: Issue 7
​Available for purchase:
Physical (NA)
Digital
Subscribe

J. Federle

J. Federle grew up in Kentucky in a brick house in front of the woods. Catholic school left her with a love of the macabre and an empathy for monsters, which she suspects wasn’t the intended effect. Her favorite Star Trek episodes are the scary ones. She's the odd author behind the Author-Oddity Newsletter, which aims to boost and inspire fellow spooky creators. For now, she lives in Lima, Peru, where she misses thunderstorms but loves the sea.

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