eden-paradox

Holly, I'm going to die. No, I'm going to change…into them. I should probably write this down directly, quickly, and to the point. In about an hour I will cease to be Ryan, English major at Lander University in Greenwood SC, and I will start my life anew as a zombie. Yea, an undead corpse that stumbles around all day searching for human flesh. I will be nameless…just one undead among thousands. Which is exactly why I'm writing this letter on this stack of blank receipts. I'm holed up in The Dixie, a local burger joint. Ironically, I always thought the old-timey and weathered neon sign out front would make a perfect apocalypse bac

       Polished black stilettos stab into the brittle bricks of Charleston streets. The heart wrenching sound carries throughout the city and hides in dark corners, to echo at just the right time behind unsuspecting tourists. Long pale legs sweep the old streets and never falter. Crusty leaves and discarded trash scurry away from the blond goddess's broad stride. She rakes long, neatly manicured nails through her bleached hair and sneers at the gaggle of girls that has formed on either side of her wide hips. Their bright doe eyes look on her for a kind of guidance that never comes. She flips her hair to the guy closet to her and parts her lip

        Once upon a time there was a girl who lived in a city filled with dust. It entered through the cracks in the floorboard and covered her world in a dull coat of grime. Small footsteps lay in the dust beside two fallen bodies. The howling wind erases the girl's whimpering; like two motherly banshees it fingers at her dirty blonde curls and coos reassurances into her tiny ears...         Lucas falls to the ground snorting, "Your ears are NOT tiny!"         Olivia stands up and throws her journal at him. It hits his he

       "I wish you wouldn't do that," she said. Her eyes flashed in the fading light of the setting sun. Lucas enjoyed the brief instances he got to see her gold-flecked eyes, even when they glared at him reproachfully. She saw him staring and quickly smashed the dirty goggles over her head and turned away.        "It's just a habit." He flicked the lighter on one last time then shoved it in his dirt filled pocket. The memory of the flame left a dancing imprint just behind his eyelids. He wondered what the fire would look like reflected in the depths of Olivia's eyes. She

        Painted unicorns dance in a field of ash; their bodies are skewered on metal poles. A pale hand grasps the pole and pushes it forward. The unicorns fill the wasteland with their screeching and groaning. Olivia's spine tingles as the sound moves in a dust storm around her head. Even this horrid sound is preferable to the lament of the dead.        She lays her head against the unicorn's mane and sighs. The flaking paint shivers under her breath and breaks off to join the other pieces glinting in the dirt. The merry-go-round is almost devoid of color now and soon Olivia must move on, but not yet. The magic has not faded, yet.      

Toxic Moonlight bleaches the back of a lone warrior. It falls like rain down her spine, Carving pearl colored tattoos into The grime that has stained her skin black. The dagger at her thigh rests uneasily in its scabbard And the arrows on her back quiver in anticipation Of the coming storm. The beat of her heart is in Perfect rhythm with the solemn war drum, Its moan can be heard in the distant and felt in the Land. She bows her head to the long grass Tangled in her hands and whispers prayers to No one. Her eyes gleam, her smile cracks; Turning into a broken sword's edge. She lifts her head and howls a strained War cry to th

A heart pumps poison Into the dainty chest of A young girl scorned. Pale hands snatch away Gold coins placed on lovers' eyes. Charon is quiet. Heads loll back on gaunt Workers' shoulders. Crooked grins Snap like leather whips. Magic mirrors speak Lies spun into gold by those Who want to hear them. Hades rapes Eve in Eden, leaving her only Souring apples. Her breasts are not ripe, Hair not bleached, skin not Loved by Apollo. So she eats their words, Ink-stained lips wet with glee, sweet Sins locked and loaded.

Sometimes I call it a man, Other times it's a woman. A bodyguard with bulging muscles, Or a courtesan with red lips; But both with perfect breast. It is the pain of a needle Searing ink into pale flesh Pulsing with every strained heartbeat. Like a snake, it twists up the thigh, Over the stomach to the heart, Dashing butterflies in its fiery wake. Its body is an hourglass That uses sand from my soul To measure time by the hour, By the hour it uses me, Like an intimate lover Stuck in suffocating embrace. It is my pagan god and goddess, My siren, My satyr; My ecstasy, My horror; My rise, and My fall; Behind all of this is a

• Bricks: Dusty, old, smooth where fingers have brushed by, the birthing place of innovative life, a crack where mother earth pushes through in the form of a vine, history condensed in a fading and forgotten solid mass, the color of his eyes, just as old just as faded, just as forgotten • Leaves: Sitting on top of the laurel wreath on some mighty God's or Goddesses' head, covering up impurity, alive above my head dead beneath my feet, Mother Earth's skin • Books: Bound in skin, weathered, faded, yellow, a journey, my real life, fireplaces and cat's fur, spines creaking and cracking, black tattoos on ivory skin • Thorns:

Within the grasping branches And entangling vines Of my Mother Earth Is where I find you. Sister Moon shines on you, Sending a soothing light onto Your browned skin That quivers under the cold wind's hands. My long lost Bother Sun Has spent too much time with you; Intimately ravaging you with his Hot hands and burning eyes. Allow me to brush your fair hair Away from your starlit eyes So that my tainted soul May feel their warm light. Match your curves with mine And let me lay you down On earthy sheets Made of crumbling leaves. They cover your naked form And add a golden sparkle Over the pale blue veins Engorged wi