Christeene Alcosiba

Dracula’s Girl

Perhaps she was a somnambulist, 

Or perhaps just a common cheat. 

Perhaps in the blankness of sleep 

She opened a window and called out 

For a fresh kind of suffering to find her; 

Asked it to imagine something beautiful 

In place of her contained sorrows. 

And when she closed her eyes she 

Gave that suffering a name, a face, a 

Motivation as unrelenting as time; 

Imagined a pair of oxstrong shoulders that 

Could carry the weight of her restlessness. 

Perhaps without knowing it 

She summoned a bowl of red poppies 

To brighten her timeworn table. 

She could not tell if she was awake or dreaming 

When the monster appeared on her balcony, 

His fur damp from shapeshifting, 

Traveling from that astral plane to this. 

He was so very beautiful in the moonlight 

Even his fangs shone like pearls when 

He whispered unspeakable things in her hair. 

She stepped from her nightgown, 

Offered him the ruby between her breasts 

For his signet ring, his supplement. 

In the dark it was hard to tell 

Which the beast and which the woman 

With that hungry exchange of mouths, 

Blood spilled like wine on the marital bed, 

Room toppled with the fury of their thrashing. 

Two wild children at home in the dark, 

Brought together by dreams 

Burning away with the infernal sun. 

Christeene Alcosiba is a tech worker based Madison, WI. She writes poetry, non-fiction, and screenplays. She previously served as a poetry editor for Scalawag Magazine and as an arts and culture journalist for ArtsATL. Her poems have previously been published in Forklift, OH, Rattle, New York Quarterly, The Southeast Review, B O D Y, and others.