From the Vaults: Beast Touched

I haven't posted anything in a while, let's just say life has been difficult.

Anyway, I was digging through some previously published poems and thought I'd just put one up here. Beast Touched was first published in Silver Blade Magazine and inspired by the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast.

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Beast Touched

By Alexandra Seidel

The beast

killed all the beauty in her.

It was a touch at first--

mottled feelings, shady

mangrove places

of the soul as deep

as they are wet…and thirsty.

First, she whimpered,

then she groaned

and from the beast's touch

sprang desire

shedding innocent skin

with the leisure

of a serpent. Bursting

as pomegranates, her lips

were torn asunder,

and his tongue dug wells

into her eyes,

at first gently,

then less, and less.

All who knew her

before her belly swelled,

before her mind

became focused

on his voice,

on his whims,

said that the beast

had killed all

the beauty in her;

they said

she had shed

her skin

like any common serpent.

At first, though,

it was just

a touch.