Innocence Elixir

Shannon Connor Winward

Begin with:
The cauldron of a woman’s body, much-used seasoned

Brace with:
_____Scrap wood
_____Yard waste
_____A day’s work

Invite the neighbors to witness the kindling: Strike, light. Relax

Infuse with:
_____1 can Budweiser, then another (Repeat)
_____2 hands English Leather (or Chaps, or old-fashioned sweat, but never
__________Drakkar Noir. This will ignite her, and sour the concoction.
_____Half a pack of cigarette ash (brand irrelevant, she doesn’t remember)

Incant, for hours:
_____Politics
_____Polack jokes
_____Danny Boy (or Jim Croce)

Insert sticks wands until hot, glowing. Swirl vigorously. Spell her name in sparks.

Once reduced to her purest essence, lift her high. Brush with: 1 man, unshaven, cheek-to-cheek

Convince her:
_____A star in heaven burns cherry red, just for her, and
_____the future is everything
_____Daddy promised it could be

© 2018  Shannon Connor Winward

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Shannon Connor Winward is the author of the Elgin Award-winning chapbook, Undoing Winter (Finishing Line Press, 2014) and winner of the 2018 Delaware Division of the Arts Emerging Artist Fellowship in Literature. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Fantasy & Science Fiction, Analog, Lunch Ticket, The Pedestal Magazine, Cider Press Review, The Monarch Review, Qu, Literary Mama, PANK, and elsewhere. In between writing, parenting, and other madness, Shannon is also a poetry editor for Devilfish Review and founding editor of Riddled with Arrows Literary Journal.