Circus of Horrors

My baby wasn’t born into a circus family
nor was I a fan of dangerous circus stunts

before he took my life in his beautiful
hands and I became his target girl

during the day, you wouldn’t notice anything
different about us ’cause we look like any other

couple in love, but when it gets dark I strip for
him and stand still strapped to a revolving board

he smiles, I breathe in
I smile, he breathes out

I keep my eyes open, he closes his and
starts throwing steel knives at me at top speed

Bojana Stojcic teaches, bitches, writes, bites and tries to breathe in between. Her poetry and prose have appeared in over 30 publications: Rust + Moth, Anti-Heroin Chic, Barren Magazine, The Opiate, The Blue Nib, Burning House Press, Mojave Heart Review, Okay Donkey, Spillwords, and X-R-A-Y Literary Magazine, among others. Her flash was a finalist in the 2019 Midway Journal’s -1000 Below: Flash Prose and Poetry Contest. She blogs at Coffee and Confessions to Go.