Nichole McElhaney

Be a witch they cannot burn.

A poetess is a collection of unfinished thoughts. She is a tormented phantom, a harbinger of life and death. Those who peer deep inside her catacombs will learn that even madness is a virtue.

My wild heart craves shadows. Like a bat unfurling its wings, I open myself to darkness; I open myself to truth.

I adore forgotten words, long lost folk tales, and books with pages soft and crumbling. I am a collector of scents and memories. The things that others bury are the things I hold most dear.

I am not soft. I do not have that luxury. I am the wolf in girl__ clothing; all snarls and claws. My mother once told me: be gentle, be kind. She forgot to mention that the world was full of beasts, and if I wanted to survive I would have to become one myself.