had a tête-à-tête
with my dark
feminine,
she’d been clawing at my
door all my life;
but in fear and ignorance
she had been shoved aside
because i was afraid
she was evil—
but she taught me that
she is just another puzzle piece
in the tapestry of me,
and that without darkness
there can be no light;
she taught me that i can be both
maleficent and aurora
both mina and dracula
& persephone who was both
flowers and death—
she taught me that she wasn’t
here to destroy or tear me down
from my heaven,
she was the magic i had been missing
all the years as i laid in a numb whisper
of pain;
together we can face anything.

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Linda M. Crate’s works have been published in numerous magazines and anthologies both online and in print. She is the author of six poetry chapbooks, the latest of which is: More Than Bone Music (Clare Songbirds Publishing House, March 2019). She’s also the author of the novel Phoenix Tears (Czykmate Books, June 2018). Recently she has published three full-length poetry collections Vampire Daughter (Dark Gatekeeper Gaming, February 2020), The Sweetest Blood (Cyberwit, February 2020), and Mythology of My Bones (Cyberwit, August 2020).