BeCause by Y.M. Pang
45 lines
Issue 10 (Spring 2026)
I killed a sea witch today
because she sliced off my tongue,
turned my fins to nettle-spiked feet,
locked my voice in the spiralling vortex of a conch shell.
(he’d never know, he’d never know)
Love tastes
like the burning sting of her dagger
like heart’s blood
like my prince’s tears when he died in my arms.
I killed her, my vengeful fairy—
sent out jagged visions from the dreams
I’ll never awaken from,
strangled her in her sleep as she imprisoned me in mine
all for some slight from my childhood:
a spindle and a gift and a song
unremembered.
mother sister daughter
why
I killed a queen today,
dressed her in coal-roasted shoes,
crowned her in molten gold,
wreathed her blood-red gown in flame and laughed,
laughed, laughed.
Never again would she
cram the poisoned apple down my gullet,
shave my hair to its roots,
freeze my heart to ice
(for I’d cut it out myself long ago).
There will be no more gossamer ballgowns and no more soot-stained rags
and no more poisoned candy and candied poison,
no more sisters to drive black-painted nails through my back
and whisper,
told you so
we were right about her
I killed
(my blood)
because she was right about me
because we all knew kind princesses grew into evil queens
and time and stories flowed only one way.
She
(mother sister fairy witch)
was my guiding light
and only in darkness after the pinch of the candle wick
could I be me
—evil, free—
