I will summon Satan to the center of my damaged self that clings cold to me. His horns will rise like a forklift and rake it away with you. There are a multitude of mannequins weathering in windows waiting to take my perdition. He’ll devour their torsos and limbs, make it snow fiberglass bones down His belly like the slob Giotto painted in Padua. Think of the pleasure I’ll have to never see you drink again, after this co-dependency slips down the shoot towards hell right into His dirty mouth. What will be left is me, myself again, without you, ready to begin again, sick, sick of me with you, So sick I’ve become that I’ve asked Satan to come and cleanse me from you.
Nancy Byrne Iannucci is the author of Temptation of Wood (Nixes Mate Review 2018) and Goblin Fruit (Impspired 2021). Her poems have appeared in numerous publications including Autumn Sky Poetry, Gargoyle, Bending Genres, Clementine Unbound, Dodging the Rain, 8 Poems, Glass: A Journal of Poetry (Poets Resist), Hobo Camp Review, and Typehouse Literary Magazine. Nancy is a Long Island, NY native who now resides in Troy, NY where she teaches history at the Emma Willard School. Web: https://www.nancybyrneiannucci.com/