Thirteen, etc.
By
Alison Armstrong
Thirteen
At thirteen the blood flowed,
tinged with black
like a darkening sunset.
Thirteen candles dripped their wax.
thirteen wishes vanished in smoke.
loss, like a stray cat,
lingered in the shadows.
What Would Crow Say?
Your glistening black wings are scrying mirrors, shimmers of presence ancient and divine. What do you say to guide me? What can I learn from you and your cawing flight?
From an early memory, when I was on the cusp of words, you emerged from soot, resplendent, and as I watched you circle around the room, my wooden alphabet blocks teetered, my mind in thrall to your startling majesty.
“Bird!” my grandmother murmured, in awe or fright, a reverberating word.
What were you trying to tell me then as you ushered me into language?
What do you say to me now, in my yearned-for home, where the song from my childhood laments the loss of innocence, the fiery, enduring obsession? The rising and setting sun bleeds as you fly, crying, beckoning.
Confection
Flattened under rolling pin hands,
I splatter out the edges,
snaking across the floured board.
The cookie cutters
slice my feet
and lacerate my chest.
I am pre-shaped,
geometrically perfect.
but my stumps ache,
yearning for the painful budding
of toes and breasts.
I am a confection,
a fabrication
sweetened with nursery rhymes
scriptures, and advertising slogans.
as my flesh bubbles and splits,
my crisped mouth smiles
in a nonpareil row
to entice,
seduce,
and be consumed
by my creator.
Alison Armstrong is the author of three literary horror novels (Revenance, Toxicosis, and Dark Visitations), a novella (Vigil and Other Writings), in addition to a collection of writings addressing women and horror archetypes (Consorting with the Shadow: Phantasms and the Dark Side of Female Consciousness). Having obtained a Master of Arts in English, she has taught composition and literature at Washtenaw Community College in Ann Arbor, MI and Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn. In addition to her novels and novella (available on Amazon and other online retailers), she has worked as a co-editor of Nature Triumphs: A Charity Anthology of Dark Speculative Literature and has had writings published in that anthology as well as The Horror Zine Magazine Fall 2025, several other horror anthologies and The Sirens Call ezine. Information on her writings can be found at her Web site: https://horrorvacui.us
By
Alison Armstrong
Thirteen
At thirteen the blood flowed,
tinged with black
like a darkening sunset.
Thirteen candles dripped their wax.
thirteen wishes vanished in smoke.
loss, like a stray cat,
lingered in the shadows.
What Would Crow Say?
Your glistening black wings are scrying mirrors, shimmers of presence ancient and divine. What do you say to guide me? What can I learn from you and your cawing flight?
From an early memory, when I was on the cusp of words, you emerged from soot, resplendent, and as I watched you circle around the room, my wooden alphabet blocks teetered, my mind in thrall to your startling majesty.
“Bird!” my grandmother murmured, in awe or fright, a reverberating word.
What were you trying to tell me then as you ushered me into language?
What do you say to me now, in my yearned-for home, where the song from my childhood laments the loss of innocence, the fiery, enduring obsession? The rising and setting sun bleeds as you fly, crying, beckoning.
Confection
Flattened under rolling pin hands,
I splatter out the edges,
snaking across the floured board.
The cookie cutters
slice my feet
and lacerate my chest.
I am pre-shaped,
geometrically perfect.
but my stumps ache,
yearning for the painful budding
of toes and breasts.
I am a confection,
a fabrication
sweetened with nursery rhymes
scriptures, and advertising slogans.
as my flesh bubbles and splits,
my crisped mouth smiles
in a nonpareil row
to entice,
seduce,
and be consumed
by my creator.
Alison Armstrong is the author of three literary horror novels (Revenance, Toxicosis, and Dark Visitations), a novella (Vigil and Other Writings), in addition to a collection of writings addressing women and horror archetypes (Consorting with the Shadow: Phantasms and the Dark Side of Female Consciousness). Having obtained a Master of Arts in English, she has taught composition and literature at Washtenaw Community College in Ann Arbor, MI and Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn. In addition to her novels and novella (available on Amazon and other online retailers), she has worked as a co-editor of Nature Triumphs: A Charity Anthology of Dark Speculative Literature and has had writings published in that anthology as well as The Horror Zine Magazine Fall 2025, several other horror anthologies and The Sirens Call ezine. Information on her writings can be found at her Web site: https://horrorvacui.us
