Rag Doll

She sits in Yiayia‘s treasure chest,
listening to footsteps
on floorboards.
She has holes in her face—
pin-pricks of children’s dreams;
hollow freckles
filled with the last one hundred years.
But the deepest hole,
goes from her nostril,
through the back of her head,
made minutes before
a four-year-old girl
named Lila, died.
He had a swastika.
And a machine gun.

If Jessica Bell could choose only one creative mentor, she’d give the role to Euterpe, the Greek muse of music and lyrics. This is not only because she currently resides in Athens, Greece, but because of her life as a thirty-something Australian native, contemporary fiction author, poet and singer/songwriter/guitarist, whose literary inspiration often stems from songs she’s written. She is the Publishing Editor of Vine Leaves Literary Journal and runs the Homeric Writers’ Retreat & Workshop on the Greek island of Ithaca.