Anastasia Jill (Anna Keeler) is a queer poet and fiction writer living in the southern United States. She is a current editor for the Smaeralit Anthology. Her work has been published or is upcoming with Poets.org, Cleaver Magazine, FIVE:2:ONE, Ambit Magazine, Drunk Monkeys, Hawai’i Pacific Review, The Laurel Review: Fearsome Critters, and more.

Persephone

I am a goddess in botanical housing,
Fertile hair plumped and cleared for meaning,

A series of dyslexia following a hashtag
In manga art that does me no justice.

I try to find said justice.
There is no under
In floors made of tree bark.

I cry for my mother; let me out,
For my father; I don’t like seeds

Yet I keep them—
In the magick box in my pocket.

I store magick and gems,
But most of all, leaves.

This is so simple. I am a hex.
Help me hunger.
Let me starve.

[image: The Blood Of A Pomegranate | Stephen Mackey]