Mela Blust
i lost my milk teeth on tug of war
with my emotions
cut my teeth on silence, on questions
“you’re too young to understand”
they said
but the darkness whispered answers to my youthful heart
shadows whispered knowledge
to my teenaged soul
father fills the fridge and
mother fills the dinner plate
but who will fill the heart?
i’m always a little girl, always a little confused
i think about those flowering dogwood tree days
those playhouse tree friend days
and somehow still i’m thirteen
smoking banana peels, skipping school, and climbing a tree to escape
old white man peering into the backyard days
cherry tree in the backyard days
something naïve floating in
my nipples hard in the summer wind
remembering now how much i wanted the attention
i must have deserved every little death
“you’re too young to worry about that kind of thing ‘
mother’s voice dies on the breeze
and my youth
cherry flavored pop rock sweet
doesn’t taste as good
anymore
***
Mela Blust is a moonchild, and has always had an affinity for the darkness. She is a poet, a painter, a sculptor, and a jeweler. She has been writing poetry since she was a child. Her work has appeared in The Bitter Oleander, Isacoustic, Rust+Moth, Anti Heroin Chic, Califragile, Tilde Journal, Setu Magazine, Rhythm & Bones Lit, and more, and is forthcoming in The Nassau Review, The Sierra Nevada Review, and The Stray Branch, among others. Her debut poetry collection, Skeleton Parade, is forthcoming with Apep Publications in 2019. She is the social media coordinator for Animal Heart Press, as well as a poetry reader for The Rise Up Review. She can be followed at https://twitter.com/melablust.