Teresa T. Chappell
Dark purple pigment permeates
itself under my skin & bubbles
in the veins in my wrists.
I am locked in the cracked
clay of my own body.
Each thrum of my heart shoots
the violent violet closer to the beating
organ in my chest: paralyzes
my jaw so that I cannot
speak. Its toxic particles twist
in my brain; I experience
every horrific outcome before
they actually happen.
It rots my teeth & my mouth
is left with gaping holes that gush
perse liquid. I am forced to gulp down
my own bloody poison.
***
Teresa T. Chappell is a poet passionate about tethering the unseen onto the material. She is a Princeton in Asia Teaching Fellow and a graduate of Franklin and Marshall College. She graduated with a B.A. in Creative Writing and French Language and Literature, as well as with a minor in Chinese Language. Apart from writing, her favorite hobby is eating (though she was once told that eating is not a hobby).