There always comes a point
when there’s nothing left to do except
dismantle and rebuild.
Unzip the skin,
unhook each ligament
and watch it come rattling, sighing down.
Take your hammer and chisel and every bone in turn
and set to work.
This is an art, like any sculpture.
Each bone form contains the shapes of its
shards and your job is to
bring them to the fore.
It’s methodical work,
from femur to metatarsal,
right down to the tiny bones in the ear
that demand a pin for a chisel
and the gentlest tap.
Hunch closely over your work surface
and tell yourself
maybe this attention is close enough to love
to count.
DANIELLE JORGENSON-MURRAY is a translator from the North East of England and based in Frankfurt. Her short fiction can be found in the The Colored Lens and Ellipsis, among others, and her poetry in 87 Bedford. She tweets at @ukenagashi and opines about books she’s read at www.sparrowdove.com.
COREY NYHUS is a narrative artist currently living and drawing in New York. An avid lover of
fantasy and occult horror, his work is full of stark inks, eldritch dreamscapes and sympathetic monsters. Corey is currently earning his MFA in illustration at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. His forthcoming dark fantasy comic, Bloombreather, is slated for release in the spring of 2020. His work can be seen on Instagram @coma.nydus and on his website at coreynyhus.com.