ANTHILLS by Maureen O'Leary

Anthills

hush · issue 3

The entire world was rended
In the small of your boyfriend’s back on
The smooth skin where the sweat pooled
And the roll of muscle was bisected by a spinal track.
Nobody loved you like him,
The entire world spread and held apart by two fingers
Eating kisses and burning layers away
On imaginary ant hills scraping off the sugar and the skin
Digging for the blood table that well you knew was under there
The stripping being the way in
The long rides and music and trees at night time in the summer
The courage that took the pain exchange
The skin on skin and
The way ribcages crack when they are opened

Maureen O'Leary

Maureen O'Leary's most recent and upcoming work appears in Coffin Bell Journal, The Horror Zine, Ariadne Magazine, Bandit Fiction, Live Nude Poems, Train Poetry Journal, Archive of the Odd Issue #1, Passengers Journal, Bag of Bones Press' 206 Word Stories, Penumbric Speculative Fiction, The Esopus Reader, Black Spot Books' anthology Under Her Skin, Punk Noir Magazine, Bourbon Penn, and Sycamore Review. She is a graduate of Ashland MFA.