back | next | table of contents | cover | home

dessa bayrock

Canis Chalcedonus Somniculosus

I dream your sister buys a dog

and breaks it open like a rock,

revealing glowing pyrite innards

to match its glimmering crystal fangs.

If only we, too, could be so lucky.

(Then again, perhaps our insides are likewise gilded with light,

and we only have to fall apart

to see.)

Dessa Bayrock is an ex-journalist and current PhD student. Her poems have appeared in Raspberry Magazine and Bywords, among others. She is currently growing a small jalapeno plant on her balcony, which is perhaps her most meaningful accomplishment.