Vikki C.
Skin Deep In What We Cannot Own
Everything grows old around me, white at the edges as if bleached by sunlight.
But neither of us want shade so readily. Even when intimate, somehow our bodies glow
in the open field, dandelion heads marking each missed sunrise—like this is a cure for past
grief. Showing the world how we break down into soil. Our nails sinking into each other, the
way God might slip a little pain in our sides while we love.
You trace my collarbone like a safe haven. A loose feather spirals down from the cedars. You
call my name like I’ve already left—a little whiskey in the water to even out the odds.
Thinking of industry and its chemical sickness. The dress I wear for you, a frayed
shoreline—irreparable.
Because aesthetics is prayer, the land is always truer with you in it; faith an aphrodisiac
arousing other pairings. Humans, insects, birds, planets and their satellites. It is troubling that
the microcosm is just this one field, this soft clover indented by our lust. Like it represents all
a hand can hold in an emergency. The pale petals turning to ash without a regular flame.
Vikki C. Vikki C. is a British-born, ‘Best of the Net’ nominated writer and musician. She is the author of two poetry collections: THE ART OF GLASS HOUSES (Alien Buddha Press, 2022) and WHERE SANDS RUN FINEST (DarkWinter Press, 2024).
Vikki’s poetry and stories are internationally published/forthcoming in venues such as Psaltery & Lyre, The Inflectionist Review, EcoTheo Review, Dust Poetry Magazine, Amethyst Review, ONE ART Poetry, Stone Circle Review, The Belfast Review, Ballast Journal, The Hyacinth Review, One Hand Clapping, New Feathers Anthology, Ice Floe Press, Black Bough Poetry, DarkWinter Lit, Acropolis Journal, The Winged Moon, Sontag Mag, Boats Against The Current, Nightingale & Sparrow, Origami Poems, Jerry Jazz Musician, Mythic Picnic, Fevers Of The Mind, Ellipsis Zine, Across The Margin, The Write-In, Literary Revelations, Loft Books, Lazuli Literary Group, Salò Press, Igneus Press and various other places.
Vikki was named one of the winners of Black Bough Poetry’s 2024 Chapbook/Collection Contest and was also shortlisted in the Jerry Jazz Musician 63rd Short Fiction Contest (US) and DarkWinter Lit’s 2nd Anniversary Contest (Canada).
Twitter: @VWC_Writes
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/vikki_c._author