there’s no such thing as Santa and happiness:
the universal intertwine of the star-fractured childhood.
Whoever said the goal in life is contentment
has never counted their knuckles
to make sure their fingers are still attached to their body—
as chilled as the knife resting atop her wrist
with pulse pleading to be touched
kissed.
Ann Blackburn is a student at Sarah Lawrence College, where she studies poetry. She has studied with Cynthia Cruz, Suzanne Gardinier, and Martha Rhodes. She is currently working on her manuscript. Her work has previously appeared or is forthcoming in Maudlin House, Red Paint Hill Poetry Journal, The Stray Branch, and Deep Water Literary Journal.
Eunoia Review 