Write Her Story

Grave Miracles
by Paula D. Ashe

Light thirty white candles. Set a polished human skull — aged fifty years and never buried– near them. Take a necklace from a corpse, affix a shard of amethyst to its end and tie this to your dead bride’s neck. This is for your protection.

She’ll be ravenous. Serve her the hearts of strays in a hot stew. Waste nothing. Give her the bones; she’ll suck out the marrow. Give her the brains; she’ll separate the folds and lick the fluids from her fingertips as you or I would an orange. Give her the offal; she’ll unspool those slick delicacies as if they were taffy. Perhaps, save the liver for yourself. You look like you could use the iron.

Pray nightly to the Queen of the Prickling Things. Every month, scrub down with a fetish of yourself from crooked nails, used needles…