Kristen Brida
DESCRIBE TO ME YOUR INITIAL REACTION WHEN YOU GOT HERE

from The Eurydice Interviews

When I first showed up the halo of my silhouette
dissolved like a jolly rancher

I began to put my mouth on every darkling
tried to eat away as much of it as I thought I could

After a couple of missing molars
I smeared my hand across my face

In a state of self-devour
I wore my bloodied ghost like a surgeon’s mask

I put a lighter against my skin & watched
the black-blue throb against my dead stuff

then I wore the shadows
on the walls like a Chanel shawl

& a halo of skulls floated above me
I cracked one open & lilac juice flooded out

I soaked my hands in them
its electric punch dripped through me

Kristen Brida’s work has appeared or is forthcoming in Hobart, Whiskey Island, Bone Bouquet, REALITY BEACH, and elsewhere. She is the editor-in-chief of the intersectional feminist journal, So to Speak. She is an MFA candidate at George Mason University. She tweets @kissthebrida.

Read more from Cleaver Magazine’s Issue #17.