“vaticinated”

by Maddie Bowen-Smyth

He can’t compare her to a summer’s day,
But to moonlight streaming through canopies,
As her lips, in quiet mischief, convey,
Quaking truths that come to rest with unease.
He gets used to the beautiful strangeness,
The way he’s so used to her everywhere,
And finds empty spaces when, so aimless,
She chases peril without single care.
He can only think she’s some fae creature,
Flitting and freewheeling easy as smoke,
Soon tangled in tonight’s silent feature,
Where the dark drags long and the shadows choke.
He can’t help but feel inevitably
Drawn to dreams of their own sure misery.

Maddie Bowen-Smyth is an avid tabletop roleplayer, an incurable fan of fried shallots, and an indefatigable hunter of obscure historical facts. Her work explores the lasting echoes of trauma but is animated by a spirit of bull-headed hopefulness. She lives on Whadjuk Noongar land with her wife and their growing menagerie. Learn more at www.journalistic.com.au