Incubus

Picture Credits: filip-kominik

In my dream I ate lettuce so green and crispy I drooled. I swallowed the demon in its folds and
went back to visit my old apartment. On the porch the screen door looked so vivid I opened it to
make sure it still slammed to satisfy. The sound brought me back so hard. I’d offer money to
take that screen door home. I thanked the occupants for not kicking me out. They let me look for
my bedroom but instead I found a whole new building like an annex. Man did I miss that screen
door’s smack. Beyond the door I could see the sky was turning pink over the river. It was so lush
and hidden in plain sight. Behind me were the clocks and a telephone. I felt them there but
didn’t see. The demon I had choked down could make me orgasm at the sight of a slick sky. I
bucked against the pain of that remembered door’s slam.

Jessica Purdy

About Jessica Purdy

Jessica Purdy is the author of STARLAND and Sleep in a Strange House, both released by Nixes Mate in 2017 and 2018. Sleep in a Strange House was a finalist for the NH Literary Award for poetry. Murder in the House, a pamphlet of her poems on the Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death was just released by Buttonhook Press. She is the author of the chapbook Learning the Names (Finishing Line Press 2015). She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Emerson College. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in many journals including The Night Heron Barks, Radar, SoFloPoJo, Harpy Hybrid, Lily Poetry Review, One Art, Poemeleon, and Museum of Americana. She is poetry editor for the anthology, Ten Piscataqua Writers 2022.

Jessica Purdy is the author of STARLAND and Sleep in a Strange House, both released by Nixes Mate in 2017 and 2018. Sleep in a Strange House was a finalist for the NH Literary Award for poetry. Murder in the House, a pamphlet of her poems on the Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death was just released by Buttonhook Press. She is the author of the chapbook Learning the Names (Finishing Line Press 2015). She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Emerson College. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in many journals including The Night Heron Barks, Radar, SoFloPoJo, Harpy Hybrid, Lily Poetry Review, One Art, Poemeleon, and Museum of Americana. She is poetry editor for the anthology, Ten Piscataqua Writers 2022.

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