TWO POEMS 

Case of Apophenia

You sit in a tub of migraines

             with the picture of a Mexican stripper

                          taped to the bathroom window,

                                       thinking she pulled your mother’s pearls

                                                    from under.

​

You admire the way her tongue

             sweeps glitter off another girl’s lashes,

                            how her name is mnemonic:

                                      Died In Apartment, Naked, Alone.

​

She is legs and money tucked behind an ear,

           unlit cigar, plenty of smoke to asphyxiate.

                         Nothing like your actual mother—

​

juliet roses strung up by the waist,

               leaves gum-tacked to a hanger.

                              Together, they shrink, change color,

                                             play their spines like xylophones.

What Holds You at Night Becomes the Snow

X   those sheets could be bone floss

                               could be phantom

audition clothes gagging time   until     listen 'round to the deep dark sound

waterfalls spines              uncombed      of jade & feathers

ash rolls like hips                   on hips      to hips               merging with snake

black mapled     you’re asphyxiating     so i’m fixating on letter crows

​

                                                 their god     sticky         alkaline                   cutting

​

                   needled cartilage to curb      ooo, honey you tongue-kiss that girl

                    w/ rosary beads as teeth

                             remember she said

                       blow cigarette   & turn

between ribs is   beesting & hunger some kind of song   X

Ahja Fox can be found around Denver, Colorado reading at various events and open mics or co-hosting at Art of Storytelling. She publishes in online and print journals like Five:2:One, Driftwood Press, Rhythm & Bones Press, Rigorous, Moonchild Magazine, Anti-Heroine Chic, SWWIM , and more. She has also recently been included in the 2018 Punch Drunk Anthology and YANYR Anthology. A Best of the Net and Pushcart nominee, follow her on Instagram or Twitter at aefoxx.