a form of psychological blood-letting

they suck at my teats
these red-eyed, mucous slick
little ones with their
needled hands and
their delicate monster skulls
they suck and
they mewl and
their voices
bounce off
the cave walls
like bats
they crawl out of
my cunt I
cough them out
of my throat
I pick them out of
my nose
sometimes three or
four an hour
my body is a giant orange churn
my children are
going to be killed by heroes
decapitated
strangled
skinned with their own claws
I used to eat the
babies that were to
suffer the most
hideous deaths
the Fates discovered
my ruse and
caused any child eaten to
be regurgitated whole
heroes depend on monsters
I am the mother of
abominations I
love them
outside the moon
rises like a pisspot
over the sea

— Danielle Willis