Magic with Skin On

by Morgan Nikola-Wren

II . perhaps you felt cheated because i turned out to be ten times the woman you bargained for i'm worth my salt and it tastes like stories you've never dreamed of

what if it's a matter of forgiving myself for all the springs i never quite blossomed into

never tell yourself that because love can conquer all it has earned the right to reduce china plates into confetti shards or shake a house into rubble do not excuse the smell of smoke, saying to yourself that some loves simply burn so bright, that every word cannot help but spit sparks darling, recognize an inferno when you see one then run like hell

VII .

i want to stop making all these apologies into armor when i have no reason to be sorry

i want films to stop making women look so beautiful after they have been raped, beat up, or hit by a car

i want to find someone who says "i love you" for reasons other than hearing it back

i know you are just now learning to let yourself be tired so do not fear the cricks and cracks of you that is the sound of a house well-loved well-learned well-lived

He never thinks to look for her on the spines of the books.

Her never sees her. Never saw her. Not for what she was: magic with skin on