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"Do Not Be Concerned And Other Poems" by Elaysa Deaver


if you see me swallow boiling water
or hover my hands over steam
this is normal
i’m a cold-blooded creature

if you see me huddled by an active volcano
cheering on the eruption and chasing the
lava flows downhill
it’s okay i’m not going to touch it

just barely
i might dip my toes in
i can’t help but worship whatever keeps
me warm

if you see me catch sparks on my
tongue like snowflakes
it’s only to revive myself from the inside
savor the way heat seeps through me

but it’s never enough
the warmth leaves me too soon, leaves me
in a serrated chill like always

not this time
I am going to set myself on fire and if
you love me you will add kindling


"a last resort microcosm" by Elaysa Deaver

instead of burning down my house i left the windows open
the rain arrived in torrents and the carpet drank it in

i cultivated fungus in all its friendly forms 
let it feed on the ruins of my apathy

the humid breeze lets in a fresh supply of oxygen
for me and all the shrooms I have collected

my plants have thrived on the decay
remaking all this mangled clutter into something new
that doesn't need electricity, only rain and space

lightning bugs become my own small galaxy

the moss feeds on the water dripping through the jungle roof
blanketing the vines and roots that hug the floor

the furniture lies buried under my deliberate green shrines
and mold and mildew have made my lungs their home

the open windows let in all the quiet things that glow
and finally moss begins to grow on me
so I can share its green, its softness
our slow victory
moss: it’s carpet that loves you


Elaysa Deaver is a student at Lipscomb University who is obsessed with moss. They enjoy getting lost in the woods and would like to befriend a squirrel one day. They are currently working with frogs to defeat their ultimate nemesis, paperwork.