MHI: WAIT WHEN ICE FORMS OVER MY FINGERTIPS by Marisca Pichette

Trigger Warning: This piece addresses mental health

The HWA is pleased to launch its Mental Health Initiative, a coordinated roll-out of events, resources, and activities intended to promote positive mental health, foster the concept of hope, and challenge the stigma of mental illness in the horror genre. The initiative, run by the organization’s Wellness Committee, launches in June, and includes the following blog posts from Of Horror and Hope, a downloadable anthology of poems, flash fiction, and personal reflections on mental health by HWA members.

WAIT WHEN ICE FORMS OVER MY FINGERTIPS
Marisca Pichette

like acrylic nails,
biting through skin and overwhelming
my eyes

my heart isn’t strong—it never was—
and I saw the novae exploding across
your face and I wanted their fire

I dreamt of stardust and murder;
your lips like a coffin seal out the
enemy of life and they
stop and never stop
but I want to see them start

oh just once let me start
let me talk when I know I can’t
and I know my teeth are shifting
and my gums bleed every night
but it’s okay because you’re permeable
and we can feel together and
you bleed beneath me and I scream

yes because we did it and it hurt
but scars tell us where we were
and I was and
you were too.

I wear my scars with pride
because getting this far—
it hurts.