Pastel Witcheries: poems by Jacob Budenz. Number 5 in Volume Six of our limited-edition Summer Kitchen Chapbook Series. Available this August. 

Cover image: vintage quilting cotton. Series design by Ron Mohring.

Published: August 1, 2018 [49 copies]
23 pages
$9.00 S O L D    O U T

JACOB BUDENZ is a is a writer, multi-disciplinary performer, and witch currently completing an MFA in Creative Writing at University of New Orleans. The author of Spellwork for the Modern Pastel Witch (forthcoming, Birds Piled Loosely Press), Jacob has published fiction and poetry in Glittership, Liminality, Slipstream, Mason Jar Press’s Broken Metropolis anthology, and more. You can see more of Jacob’s work as both a writer and performer at jakebeearts.com. 

Fire in the Chart

Mercury spins backwards. I seethe. I 
learn: choose my missed-call battles
with shadow books and Tarot. Rising
sign in Leo (moon in Aries), terrorizing

gender has become my pastime:   
maxi dress over hairy chest, lipstick

used as blush to cover razor burn, 
fairy rage at the next stranger’s fingers
to graze abdomen, ass, nipple. Neck
noosed in his hands, snugly, I loosen

the Chariot’s reins this once. Twice. Three 
days ago I swore I’d be Queen

of Pentacles—dragon lady tamed—little
doll with pins pricked through the heart, 
the crotch. My clock clangs an hour ahead
of his. Venus went direct 

the day before he said he’d come, 
but here I am, still waiting.

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