'Tartarus' & 'Elisbieta': Two Poems by Spangle McQueen

TARTARUS

faded tattoos of sad girls and crescent moons

pixelated angels flailing to gothic sounds

inky tears that never dried

waiting for the lyrics of a

plainsong

that bloodshot glaze forever haunts

with curses of Sisyphean

orgasm

burning skin un-nursed leaking a water-coloured realism

---

ELISBIETA

lost/father/form/amber/love/choice

I dismantled my sestina for you

smashed the stress

fractures

understood

the creation of sun-spangles

and now I face my inclusion

the asterid blossom of strychnine

venom orange

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Spangle McQueen is a happy grandma and hopeful poet living in Sheffield. She is proud and grateful to have work accepted and/or published by Three Drops Press; Picaroon; Lonesome October Lit; Bonnie's Crew; Burning House Press; Dwell Collective Zine; Strix; Awkward Mermaid; I am not a Silent Poet; The Writers' Café; Foxglove Journal and Sad Girl Review.