Magic with Skin On

by Morgan Nikola-Wren

give me life not survival

my feet may be anchored to this place, but i am begging the wind to whip my hair into a sail

would it kill you to carry my name in your smile the way you used to?

to the devil with learning to dance in the rain i laced tempests through my bones swallowed all the lightning that bit at my boldness, then called down my own personal chorus of thunder, so every storm that came my way knew straightaway i wasn't going quietly

perhaps you felt cheated because i turned out to be ten times the woman you bargained for