***
Bind
So what, she asked,
want me to put you in your place?
Sort of, yes, I replied.
I want you to tell me
how to lose myself
for ten thousand years.
***
Kind
Eat up, she said.
You’ll need your strength, she said.
If you’re bent on entering the astral plane,
I can try to help, she said.
But remember when I said, she said,
we do things there
incomprehensible to a mortal’s mind?
It’ll bend you, she said,
break you,
you might not come back,
so I don’t think you should go,
but who am I
to tell mortals–
even mortal witches–
what they should
and shouldn’t do
within their finite lives?
I could eat you
to stop you from going
but I don’t want to eat you.
My stomach’s full on fish, she said.
And you doing this could entertain me, she said,
fill up a day or two.
But even if you do make it, your skin here won’t last ten thousand years.
You’ll die
long before then.
Thank you for the advice, I said, you’re so kind.
If my mind
breaks
and I don’t come back
you can chuck me in the ocean
or wherever you got that fish.
A lake, she said. Salty lake. You’d float on it.
You’d float on any water, really. I think I’ll
soak you in acid instead
and add your bones
to my art gallery.
Jordyn Saelor 