The Stepdaughters Are the Wicked Ones
by Alexis Quinlan
Scalding sand kicked to cool, cruel clouds
roll past, white on light and happy
giddy girls, volleyball reddening wrists.
Spike it, one cries. To the side, new wife
learning blood again, its fairytale tides.
Welcome, hectic heart, to the bottom
beneath the bottom, dark and icy trench
whose creatures need no eyes
to see the dream of a mother
who would other and wive
forever and ever a man.
Game on a beach. Whose serve.
Alexis Quinlan is a writer and teacher living in New York City. Her most recent chapbook is titled “an admission, as a warning against the value of our conclusions” (Operating System 2014).