Ingest the Second House

by Victoria Mbabazi

oh brother it’s just as you promised

the walls are gingerbread gates lifesavers the gummy kind

if I wreck my teeth it’ll feel sweet before cracking the witch of the house

is famished she wants me for dinner and I want to get ate but right now

my appetite is bigger she’s a stone witch a master of endurance

she’d rather have me seasoned and sauced on the table

I know her strength taught her patience her skin is softness our kisses are

appetizers she likes my kinks she says: “love I’ll watch you binge the house down”

the pipes are filled with wine the desserts are running with poison I’m happy

I’ll be full for her and perfect for dinner

you said I belonged to you that you knew

I was lust at first sight you said yearning is everlasting especially when it’s stolen

I was not worried about my aching teeth your lips still tasted like sweetness

you lit a candle chocolate taste better melting I was not worried about the wine

I wanted to be blacked out you wrapped me in a soft blanket your lips pressed

against my neck wind blowing through the window I tore

through I was so full I fell asleep oh brother you never

warned me I could die in the oven

Victoria Mbabazi

Victoria Mbabazi’s work can be found in several literary magazines. chapbook is available with Anstruther Press and FLIP is available with knife | fork | book. Their full-length collection, The Siren in the Twelfth House, is coming out in Fall 2024 with Palimpsest Press. They’re currently Canadian in Brooklyn, New York.