Maria Maria
Anna Lea Jancewicz
In dream again he caught you on the stairs and
tore through your T-shirt with his teeth, he wrapped you up in
a paper sky and named you Queen of Angels, Queen of Skulls
His unwashed neck smelled of low tide, of nighttime galloping
across the empty playground, of more
In dream again he caught you down by the oily river and fell to
his knees, your rose-gold hip bones sharp in his hands, sharp
and silent against the edges of his
mouth full of edges mumbling Maria Maria
your double name is whiskey for the dead
In dream again he caught you like a bird, blood on
your beak, in a dress of fury and feathers, and he named you
Queen of Honey, Queen of Fossils, Queen of Never Never
His hair smelled of whispers, of secrets said in parked cars only,
of unfinished houses, of mine
Anna Lea Jancewicz lives in Norfolk, Virginia, where she homeschools her children and haunts the public libraries. She is a reader for Cease, Cows. Her writing has appeared or is forthcoming at Necessary Fiction, Phantom Drift, Split Lip, Wyvern Lit, and many other venues. Her flash fiction “Marriage” was chosen for The Best Small Fictions 2015. Yes, you can say Jancewicz: Yahnt-SEV-ich. More at: http://annajancewicz.wordpress.com/