after supper

Marianne Agnes

after supper

you hunt me like a dog

dragging myself to you pathetic,

I beg for your sneer,

drool for those sharp fingers

your barbed tongue

you peel me apart

scrupulously

not letting a drop go to waste

strung high a skinned doe,

you clean your knife and watch over me

and I exhale into ether

Marianne is a reformed pastor's daughter originally from Tennessee, now based in Philadelphia. She is the recipient of the 2022 Austin Clarke Prize for Fiction and has been featured in The Ex-Puritan, Basilinda Journal, Bitezine, and Auspices Press. She loves to walk in the woods and rock in her rocking chair. She is on instagram @permissivefootpath and you can find more of her work at patreon.com/mariannerart.