Aunt Does a Healing little dark knot tucked away in my big toe—aren’t I clever wrapping the threads until taut tugging them across the chest of the knot then stuff stuff stuff in the furthest spot from the —don’t say it— heart of me my aunt found it with her witch sight cast a moon-glint fishhook down my throat and put the rod in my hands mother’s sister surrounded by coastal pines I eddy back to her a child a teenager off to college and on the edge of thirty—an aunt myself she’s seen the dark the density of carrying passed-down heartbreak never meant to be mine I held the reel and spun fished out the water- logged knot coughed it up kept breathing salt air and firs into the spacious cavern of light
Beeper Peddle is a writer and healer living on the East Coast. She lives with her partner and their beloved soul puppy. Beeper writes about sorrows, lies, and deep loves. When you read her work, you will dip down into her heart and end up in all manner of body parts. Should you find yourself reflected in these words, it is merely coincidence; however, it does not surprise her you share the same heart. Find her at bethpeddle.com and @beeperpeddle on Twitter and Instagram
Lila Cutter (she/her) is an MFA candidate at Oregon State University with a background in equitable arts education work. Her poetry often refracts perceptions of femininity and has appeared in The Racket Journal and Landfill Journal, among others, and is forthcoming in Dream Pop Press and Sugar House Review.
miniskirt magazine 