Arkansas Diamond
By Amanda Mitzel
• • •
This isn’t sufficient, my manager
says, we need more data
says, we need more data
I nod, the violin wires of my neck
threatening to snap and sever all
objects around
threatening to snap and sever all
objects around
Now, she seethes, some bitterness
having brewed and left to decay
inside, leaves stuck in the high arm
of a vase
having brewed and left to decay
inside, leaves stuck in the high arm
of a vase
I look at the fluorescent lights,
then the dead daylight outside
then the dead daylight outside
I reach over to my coworker
Julianne, to her necklace—
a pendant fashioned from a flat
Arkansas diamond
Julianne, to her necklace—
a pendant fashioned from a flat
Arkansas diamond
My fingers clutch with a bolt
of movement, twisting at the
chain, at her neck, the crowd
exhaling a high sea of awe
of movement, twisting at the
chain, at her neck, the crowd
exhaling a high sea of awe
I squeeze and pray, squeeze and
pray, the rose bloom of a pulse
inside the suddenness of my
palm, the lifeline now a warm
hitching veil
pray, the rose bloom of a pulse
inside the suddenness of my
palm, the lifeline now a warm
hitching veil
And it works!
Here I am, in the plowed field of
this Southern volcanic crater
where Julianne once sifted raw gems
free, and I’m lost in a maze of clay
and college-ruled worms, buried two
yards down
this Southern volcanic crater
where Julianne once sifted raw gems
free, and I’m lost in a maze of clay
and college-ruled worms, buried two
yards down
There is silence, suffocating silence
and such swift comfort
and such swift comfort
I make the motions of breathing—
in with the dark, out with the deep
in with the dark, out with the deep
My lust looms at the thought of
the discovery of my bones—
prospected, taken to with a sigh
and the lick of fine-bristled brushes
the discovery of my bones—
prospected, taken to with a sigh
and the lick of fine-bristled brushes
• • •
Amanda Mitzel writes horror and poetry in a cabin in the woods. She has been published in Strange Horizons, Grim & Gilded, Leveler and more. Her chapbook, “We Are All Made of Glory & Soft, White Light”, was published by Bottlecap Press. She can be found at amandamitzel.com and on IG @amanda.mitzel
