Adina Polatsek
The Days Crawl on Bruised Knees
I turn the stove on and suddenly
I have so many dishes. Each one
puts another house on my head.
When I dream I dream of rabies bites
and when I wake I look out
the fourth-story window. My bed
is never made and never
will be. Sometimes I hold a lighter
to the soft parts of my arm. Other times
I sing myself to sleep.
Heaven Come Down
A witch in my dreams tells me we are all bees
in the next world. Heaven come down, she says. Or
prays it. I wake with a mouth stuffed with pollen and the sky
swooping down to take it away. By lunchtime, I forget
that it’s gone. And the day stutters by, skipping,
tripping over its own feet. I trip over the sidewalk
and lay in the weedy grass, watching a spider
crawl. In my pocket there is a kitchen knife
that I’ve been ignoring. I try to bury it but the earth
keeps spitting it out, whole and polished, sharper
than it was, and I can’t help drawing blood
from my palm. Heaven come down. I’ve got an empty
mouth and a lot to say to God but each time I try
talking, I buzz like a bee. Breathing whirring in and out
like wings. I want to rip up the sidewalk and dig deep
and bury myself standing straight up under
the trees. Heaven come down. The sky is
wrapping paper. I am sick of not being able
to tear it open with my bare fists, and consider
dying just to break it from the inside out. I tell myself
I only kill that which deserves it—the truth is
I kill that which bothers me. Like the ant on the
night table or my legs in the night. Heaven
come down. The witch stuffs my mouth
with the taken pollen and covers my lips
with her hands. “Chew,” says the witch.
“Spit it out.”
Adina Polatsek is a writer from Houston, Texas. She is currently studying at the University of Texas at Austin and was the runner-up for the 2023 James F. Parker Prize in Fiction. She has poetry and fiction published or forthcoming with Apricity Magazine, Verklempt!, Soundings East Magazine, Welter, Hothouse, Ligeia Magazine, The Orchards Poetry Journal, Figure 1, The Talon Review, MSU Roadrunner Review, Wayne Literary Review, and Moot Point Magazine.