CHUCKING THE HALO

i only knew i longed
like the first skeleton

lucy, lucky to reemerge

as incomplete but enough

to inspire original
acts of beauty

OMITTANCE

fleeting rodeo of a moment
where each segment of me is bucked.

you the spectator
i enthrall.

you wrong &
i wrung.

long is the lasso that nulls us.

WHEN MY VOICE ROCKS YOURS

who’s my figment?

you’re my figment
you’re my figment.

THERE IS A WAY TO OVERCOME VASTNESS SIMPLY BY REACHING ACROSS

but the swans
are too stupid, necks out
of sync and tangled
into heartshapes

I THRIVE NOT / I WRITHE

unmitigated bitch
in flesh tones

desolation
its beautiful goblet

inner labyrinth
conflicts with monotone

but i’m open
to interpretation

TO SEQUIN BEFORE MY TIME COMES

attune me better
i’m stellar when i want to be—

big strong breastplate
tipping it all towards beauty

Sophia Marina-Jerome is a poet from Mission, Texas. She holds a BA in Creative Writing from Columbia and an MFA in Literary Arts from Brown. Her work is published by or forthcoming in Variant Literature, Ghost City Review, TAGVVERK, Second Factory, DUNCE CODEX, and Prompt Press, among others. She is currently in and around London, England.