Content Warning: death, gore
Charlotte Cosgrove – Fingernails in Gums
I have pushed it too deep into the gum.
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I try to suck it out, vacuum it back
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Into the openness of my mouth.
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It is curled around a tooth, blanketed in gingiva.
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Dead cells cocooned in flesh.
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It is sliced into me, and I try
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To tongue it to freedom.
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The half centimetre crescent moon is habitual
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Every night rising and travelling behind teeth.
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I have needled myself.
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Controlled, agonising, comfort.
Charlotte Cosgrove is a Poet and English Lecturer from Liverpool, England. Her work has been published in numerous journals and anthologies in print and online. She is the founding Editor of Rough Diamond Poetry Journal. Charlotte's first poetry book Silent Violence with Petals will be published later in the year with Kelsay Books.
Artwork: an antarctic devil by Sarah-Jane Crowson
Sarah-Jane Crowson’s work can be seen in various journals, including Rattle, Waxwing Literary Journal, Petrichor, Sugar House Review and Iron Horse Literary Review. She uses bricolage to explore the space between real and imagined; creating alternative narratives as small acts of resistance. You can find her on Twitter @Sarahjfc or on her website at www.sarahjanecrowson.art
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These are poems and collages which use Christopher Marlowe’s Dr Faustus (1592) as a source text. Other images are sourced from scanned in ephemera and images from The British Library’s public domain library.