***
do you think there’s a league of mindless immortal dragons
advocating for their rights?
(answer: unknown)
Do you think it’s easier to return to the astral plane
while gutted on one twenty-seventh of a night’s life?
(answer: much easier, I didn’t even need the eyeball stew)
Do you think it’s hard to find specific dragons in the astral plane?
(answer: unknown, time’s hypnotic as river wings,
making the search
both long and short;
I passed through imaginary scenes
made by strangers
and made none of my own
like
that weakling witch
had to boast she wanted to meet a night
since
this stuffed witch
wanted to meet someone’s lover
to apologize
or somethin’–
not
attract
something hungry
for a stuffed
witch)
Do you think dragons accept apologies
for when you meant to get their lover’s memories back
but actually just ate the thing that ate them?
(answer: unknown,
when I did find Sliptide’s lover
she
didn’t want to speak to me,
said I smelled like foul things
–which I did–
but I tried to tell her
it was
because
I went after a thing
that ate her lover’s memory.
So could she get it out of me
or maybe get it out of the trees
vibrant on twenty-six twenty-sevenths
of the night’s life force,
whichever of us had it?
Cuz I regretted it madly,
except it had allowed me
to get here without collecting
all those fish eyes and pinecones and mushrooms again
and I might look as young as Clarissa again
but again
I think I regretted it,
mostly,
I think,
so if she could only take Sliptide’s memory back
and nothing else
I’d be fine with that)
Do you think dragons have excellent hearing in the astral plane?
(answer: no, nobody’s got hearing in the astral plane
but yes
Sliptide’s lover didn’t hear me
so I left,
check,
met her,
did what I said
time to go home
guess she didn’t want
my apology
but maybe
I was fine with that
?)
Do you think witches
can organize classes
for dragons to get their memories back?
(answer: probably.
If they had time
between trying to vomit the memory out
and hunting for spells and recipes that did that
and wondering if it was even worth it,
like, Sliptide had threatened to eat the witch
and had almost started to, once,
so it’s not like the witch owed her–
then one morning, groggy on dreams,
I remembered
when she said
I shouldn’t be worried
about her becoming a tyrant
and I said I wasn’t,
I was more worried about me)
So do you think
eating the night
made me a tyrant?
(answer: known,
but not admitted.
Because a part of me
then wondered
how long I could go
before someone would come
to tear me down)
And would Sliptide
be the one
to try to tear me down?
(answer: also unknown
since I just
suddenly no longer had the time
to try and restore her memories)
Jordyn Saelor 