coven by chestina craig

I govern the change in my life by
summers, everything 
relative to the months my skin doesn't stand on-end
vacation sun sheltering 
my childhood coven, 
us barefoot-baby-witches 
the magic all in how we drag 
our feet on the asphalt & do not bleed
the magic in how we race the boys
downhill & always win
rule out of a plastic castle 
sourgrass - our hemlock,
mix a potion of innocence, of sleepover silence
the poison we pick, that is something
other than girlhood  
something other than being shameful
dirty or mean, the way the TV told us
like fresh sweat & strawberries shared like secrets
we pluck the gravel out of each-others knees
& ride on 
there is so much light to cast 
our bodies into
& so much
summer left
for us

---

Chestina Craig lives in Long Beach, CA with her cat. Her work has been published by The Rising Phoenix Review, Button Poetry and others. She has presented her work at The Presidents Commission on The Status of Women, The Young Women’s Empowerment Conference, & more. She has a degree in Marine Biology, and sometimes pets sharks and hangs out with octopuses. She hopes that one day she will only be required to wear gauzy clothing, study the ocean, and get paid to have too many feelings.  Her chapbook “body of water” came out this fall with Sadie Girl Press.  ​