Déjà Rêvé: experiencing something you’ve already lived in a dream 

I am chopping onions 

Then my fingertips 

I am crying tears 

Of blood and chlorophyll 

I am polishing my gargoyle 

Skin to a rough shine, reviled 

Slurs flaking like sun-bleached 

Waste off my stone carapace

She is weaving, black widow 

Web catching death’s head moths.

She is smiling at me wide

With fangs dripping 

Black tar and bug detritus. 

When I attempt to kiss her 

Clean, she dissolves into a puff of

Lover’s ashes, powdered mummia.

Avra Margariti is a queer author, Greek sea monster, and Pushcart-nominated poet with a fondness for the dark and the darling. Avra’s work haunts publications such as Vastarien, Asimov’s, Liminality, Arsenika, The Future Fire, Space and Time, Eye to the Telescope, and Glittership. “The Saint of Witches”, Avra’s debut collection of horror poetry, is forthcoming from Weasel Press. You can find Avra on twitter (@avramargariti).