"Warm Chill" By Elissa Rosenthal

 Warm Chill

 By Elissa Rosenthal

The watching windows 
are like the eyes 

from above me.
Windows full of memories 

creating a warm chill 
to keep me up at night.

Hold me close douglas fir
as wind wallows through you,

as my tears 
water your roots.

"Biohazard" By Elissa Rosenthal

Biohazard

By Elissa Rosenthal

Syringes of toxins pierce the shriveled spiderwebs under my skin.
Mortal,
cherry red
nutrients is drawn out like a verbose speech.
The push and pull
of an uneven tug of war match
drags my body along the ground
which sandpapers me into nothingness.
My body is a nuclear reactor 
full of slow deaths 
of people I do not know.
I see needles as my eyes close for the last time,
wishing they were cat scratches 
from the one who truly knew me. 

I Am a Ladybug By Elissa Rosenthal

 "I Am a Ladybug"

By Elissa Rosenthal

Your fingers are beetles diving underneath my skin
and killing my appetite. A hand of putrid flesh laced in
maggot infested regret.

Can I dive into the trash and live there? 
The home of the ego yelling like a 
ladybug-
as menacing. 
Do I wish to be?

Kill my thoughts slowly and I might as well be dead. 
I am dead
and numb. 

Who am I? What is this place?
Why do I feel like no one?

A hand stokes my back like a banker visiting his gold. 
I am not gold.
I am a ladybug trying
my best to be my best.
I smell the leaves but cannot see them.
All I see is a plastic lining.

"After Death" By Elissa Rosenthal

Choices After Death

By Elissa Rosenthal

Death becomes me,

with body full of creatures,

as I return to the Earth.

Death becomes me,

with poison being pumped within,

as I turn into a statue of pollution.

Death becomes me,

with my body burning,

as I am turned into dust mixed with carbon dioxide.

Death becomes me,

and it will become you.

Think about your choices,

before the inevitable.