Juliet Cook
Sink or Float
Someone or something is draining me. I’ve been skimmed into an anemic nutria queen. My sticky fur trickles weak juice. Blue bottle flies crown me. I’m not the luscious drink I wished to be. What if I was a leech handler, but kept dreaming I was a wine stomper? Barefoot in a vat with leeches swollen as grapes, skin slipping off as they engorge and ferment, wet husks beneath my feet, a strange suction inside me. What if I swallowed a leech?
Juliet Cook’s poetry has recently been published or is forthcoming in Action Yes, Diagram and Diode, amongst many other publications. She is author of numerous chapbooks, most recently MONDO CRAMPO (dusie kollektiv 3), PINK LEOTARD & SHOCK COLLAR (Spooky Girlfriend Press), and Tongue Like a Stinger (Wheelhouse). Her first full-length poetry collection, Horrific Confection, was published by BlazeVOX.
