The Collection and Use of Dead Water

Juleigh Howard-Hobson

 

Should you ever need to cause any one
Harm, the best way to do so is with Dead
Water. The ways to gather Dead Water
Are simple: you can find a mortician
And take water used to wash corpses (said
Water must be stolen), steal the flower
Water from vases by headstones, or use
Fresh water that something or someone drowned
In – the more recent the better. Do not
Use salt or holy water. What you choose
To keep it in is up to you. I’ve found
It lasts for ages. Then, you’ve only got
To carefully put some in the food of
Those you want to hurt. One drop is enough.

 

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Juleigh Howard-Hobson’s poetry has appeared in Faerie Magazine, Illumen, Liquid Imagination, Star*Line, Weaving the Terrain (Dos Gatos Press), Mandragora (Scarlett Imprint), and many other places. A member of The Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association, her work has been nominated for Best of the Net, The Pushcart Prize and the Rhysling.