LITTLE HORRORS [ Nix Carlson ]

I am harvesting stunted tomatoes / shriveled peppers / and thyme / only this season isn’t 
romanticized / cottagecore cabins / saphhic euphoria / dancing through violets and 
sourdough recipes / it is / blistered palms / fruitless self-reliance / meager mutual aid / 
tending thyme / until the target / locks on me. 

I am coordinating my google calendar / flamingo-pink work / metamour game nights / 
sage-green for dinners with my wife / replace meditations with crash outs / still / the third 
Sunday is double-booked, trapped between / friends wandering through floral overgrowth 
/ and / witty signs / rhythmic chants / optimistic unity / state-sanctioned anger management. 

I am staring out my window / at heavy clouds / gentle rain / I want to put on a white dress, 
run through my suburban nightmare dream / fabric clinging to my slicked skin / catching 
drops on my tongue / like I would at seven / but I am paralyzed / wondering / which glacier 
disintegrated / to deliver this acid fall. 

I am scrolling through headlines / every morning / five free-thinking echo chambers show 
bite-sized disasters I missed / in five hours of fitful rest / and I recall that once in my life / 
breaking news / meant shock / scandal / sensation / now it cycles through / louder / sharper 
/ bleaker, every time / just / breaking down / breaking hearts / breaking voices. 

I am searching for a Halloween costume / thrifted / because last year’s miniature Elsa’s 
stitched by bleeding fingers / pile up in landfills / because I’m boycotting every other store 
on this block / because I can’t sew / because I can’t reimagine my siren allure in poisoned 
waters / but nothing on the racks is scary this year.

Not when every gilded corner of the world obscures little horrors.  

Nix Carlson (she/they) is a queer, polyamorous, and neurodivergent poet and sign language interpreter based in Lexington, KY. Their work appears in Low Hanging Fruit, Broken Stone Review, HNDL Magazine, and the Eunoia Review,  and is forthcoming in Coming Up Short Magazine and Page Gallery. You can find them on Instagram at @bynixec.