ELIZABETH RAE BULLMER

Body as Rorschach Ink Blots

I.          Shadowed spirit mask or sacrum & coccyx fused with wings;

II.         Tailless elephants dancing, touch trunks spattered by blood;

III.        Women in love stir a stewpot, feed on sweet berries;

IV.        Amphibious jowls of hollow-eyed horror speak with spiked tongue;

V.         Moth at rest, thickly woven wings sprout wispy legs;

VI.        Symmetrical sea creature or roadkill rodent with flattened tail;

VII.       Saddle of frog legs dressed as seahorses or fancy headband with horns;

VII.       Bobcats claw their way to heaven or pink weasels hang from shoulder pads, flaming party dress, nipple-less bodice;

IX.        Dragons spew, fountains of fire rise from smoky pelvis burning below;

X.         Tiny Eiffel Tower or inverted spine with rib cage atop cheerleader waving purple pom-poms with lime-colored claws in pink vest nibbled by rats, bikini bra & tiny green pants carried by canaries, thyroid throbs like a wishbone stuck in the throat.


The Hollowing

It wasn't so unusual what she wished for, just a safe space to keep what’s sacred. Not that she intended on squandering herself, like those frivolously releasing coins into open wells or popping entire chocolates into their mouth at once—not every hole needs filling.

Still, she daydreamed of squirrels’ nests, fantasized foxes’ dens, rabbits’ warrens. Tunnels, she thought, burrowing deeper into her belly. She sought an uncommon emptiness, not the kind widely expressed as a vacuous mind, but rooms within rooms inside herself, where she might find respite from the exasperating busyness of life. Somewhere dim and warm to curl up after the day’s obligations that would finally—easily—have space for all of her.

ELIZABETH RAE BULLMER’s work has appeared in Pensive, MacQueen’s Quinterly, Cloudbank, Sky Island Journal, Her Words, Anacapa Review and The Awakenings Review. Her most recent chapbook is Skipping Stones on the River Styx.