“needlework” by Brynn Lingaur

Illustration by A&LJ Editor and Illustrator Addie Henkel

I wish I could embroider.

My skin is already marked

with thousands of tiny needlepoints.

But what if

I drove a thread through them,

between them?

Then I’d be covered in constellations 

Soft like the night sky 

I’d make a galaxy

Gnawing my molars into stardust

Cracking my finger bones till they’re

drifting, tragic debris

Corporeal no longer

The milky way would be my blood,

The dazzling sun my eye.

I wouldn’t be lonely, 

The drifting satellites warm with metal 

and mechanical vitality

If I were celestial, 

a part of the beautiful cosmos 

I too, could grow old

Brynn Lingaur is a freshman in the LSA currently studying German and Environmental Science. When not writing, she loves taking hikes, playing the guitar and cello, and watching strange movies with her friends. 

Instagram: @brynn.adella