December Lace
In a creaky old house where pipes rupture like spleens,
old ladies in white aprons carry full serving trays
over polished floors and forgotten little girls
learning Scripture on shadowed stairwells
hold hard rosaries, trembling in their small palms
while their fragile mothers tuck themselves into closed rooms,
meteoric migraines taking over their slim forms, their
rigid hands shaking, a rifle nearby with a gaping mouth
calling louder and louder still, though it’s unloaded-
the shells are buried in a trunk under baby blankets,
the broken lock whispering
***
December Lace is a former professional wrestler and pinup model from Chicago. She is a Best of the Net nominee and has appeared in the Chicago Tribune, Pro Wrestling Illustrated, The Molotov Cocktail, Pussy Magic Lit, The Cabinet of Heed, Vamp Cat, Twist in Time, Dark Marrow, Rhythm & Bones YANYR Anthology, and Coffin Bell, among others. She loves Batman, burlesque, cats, and horror movies. She can be found on Twitter @TheMissDecember, http://decemberlace.blogspot.com, or in Chicago’s obscure bookshops.