Helen M. Pugsley - Issue 37

Helen M. Pugsley comes from a small town of 20 in eastern Wyoming but currently resides in Laramie. She has been writing since she was four, and has published three novels titled War and Chess, Tales from the Gishlan Wood, and The Tooth Fairy. When she’s not writing she wanders around aimlessly on the search for fruit.

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How Long Do You Wait to Cover a Tattoo?

I knew that star was dying

As soon as I saw it twinkling in the sky.

I think I tattooed it on my leg

To prove that it would always be part a part of me

But I think I knew then

That it was going to fall.

Me?

Could you really want me?

My hands are covered in scars

From knife wounds.

I don't trust, I don't ask for help,

I'm a little broken too.

I'll wake you up screaming

From all of my nightmares.

I box shadows.

I talk to the little girl that lives in my head.

I don't fear God, I fear His church,

Especially when He's not welcome.

I'm far from perfect.

I don't sleep,

I don't fuck.

I don't care.

But if you want,

I'll press my scars to yours

And our hearts can pound against each other.

The Knight and the Mushroom

I learned back in middle school

Not to trust the butterflies.

How am I supposed to get to know you,

If I'm too nervous to speak?

And yet this small interaction

Straight out of a romance novel

Has me wanting to know everything about you.

Tell me where you grew up,

Tell me about your dog,

How does one become a knight

After ballroom dancing?

I don’t think you know my name

But I've sat alone long enough

That I know myself.

Come find me, I plea.

I'm waiting right here,

Arms wrapped around myself

Wearing your favorite sweater,

Bursting with hope.