ASHLEE-ANN SNELLER

 

Laying Bait

 

We were seamless;
but I seemed less     in comparison     to you
                                                                        like I’d been chewed through—
littering grains of rice     to be followed     Hansel and Gretel
I leak
even as your needle pierces     you say     to stitch me back up.

Rats nest in;
hay sacks, maize
                           even as a child     I’d leave their burrowing
be
just being     is hard     when people see who you are
grain
        by grain
                       by
and it’s pitiful cause     I can’t even cook rice.

Nana tried to teach me how to sew
once; once upon a time…
I’m more like Sleeping Beauty     than I care to admit
                                                                                        like I’d been chewed through—
still wondering why I feel your prick     but not a proper stitch.

Snag
        ging on everything     fraying at the edges
that’s why it was so damn annoying to
                                                                 carry the rats’ nest     around,
are you supposed to twirl the cotton     like this?
I just, chewed          through everything.

The sack swirls behind     almost     tail-like.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ashlee-Ann Sneller completed a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Auckland majoring in Criminology and English, with an honours in Criminology. She currently works at the Ministry of Justice and finds herself writing in her sleep. She’s been shortlisted in the top ten for the Divine Muses Poetry Award and published in Re-Draft, Poetry Box and Craccum.