Alorah Welti – Moneygod
I didn't expect him to be like this.
Searing, faceless, wearing my own clothes.
A cheap deal marked-up.
He says, pay what you owe.
I feed him paperwork and a lunch break
from two jobs ago. He licks his lips,
sweet with sharp practice.
Even the dead have to
hand over some coins, girl.
He wraps hours
around my wrists in black thread.
He commands impossible things of me.
Child, leash a mosquito—
a valuable pet is weightless
and hungry for blood.
He rewards me with everything
that money can buy
and feasts alone on the rest.
Alorah Welti (she/her) is a feminist, synesthete, poet, and prize-winning artist. Her words have appeared in Anti-Heroin Chic, The Hyacinth Review, Rejection Letters, the lunar journal, and elsewhere. She is a reader for The Selkie. She lives on Dakota homeland in Mankato, Minnesota. You can find her on X at @alorahsky.
Artwork: Electric Buddha by Mab Jones
Mab Jones is the author of 3 poetry collections, 3 pamphlets, and one recent prose book, Bog Witch, inspired by wetlands, women's bodies, and spirituality. She has been taking photographs since she was 8 years old. As an arts journalist, she has written for the New York Times, and as a broadcaster she has made programmes for BBC Radio 4. Mab lives in South Wales but has also lived in Yorkshire and Japan.