Turbula
Volume II, Issue III Autumn 2003

 
 

Virgin Stream


Martha Everhart Braniff hails from Houston, where she writes fiction, poetry and essays. Her short story, "Resurrection," published in HAPPY literary journal, was nominated for the 2002 Pushcart Prize. Her suspense novel, "Beds of Broken Glass," was a finalist for the Bellwether Prize.


(after Atwood, "The Blind Assassin")

You draw blood.

The sniveling
hurt
begotten of blade on skin.

You demand
sanguine payment,
as if I were a virgin stream
always fresh
and innocent.

Your wound
on my soul
cannot be removed,
I am
river soiled with crimson.

 
 




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