XI : LUST : TETH : LEO

by Kawai Shen

A lady appears before me, astride a frightful creature with the body of a lion and the wings of a rook. She gazes upon the world with an unspeakable countenance and geminate flames of red phosphorous dance in her dilated pupils. Her titian hair is wreathed with the benumbed tongues of false prophets: data modeling scientists, reputation response specialists, distressed debt investors. Her name is the morning star and the seven-pointed sigil is tattooed with radioactive ash upon her chest. Between her thighs, the creature’s muscles ripple, releasing the scent of musk, exertion and slavery. She tightens the reins. The steel bit of the bridle bites into the soft gums of the creature’s jaws. It gnashes and shrieks with breath stinking of diesel and copper coins. When it tosses its head, live serpents are shed from its mane. It slouches unhurried in its approach. With barbed paws, it presses the bones of dead gods into the fracked and sodden earth.

My legs are stuck in a sulphurous mud. I am sinking fast into the muck. A creature’s snake lands by my side. Its fangs yawn apart as it speaks, stentorian and cruel: Look now you here, you sad, forsaken priest. Will you bless the red lady, or the terrible beast?

THE END

Kawai Shen is a writer based in Canada. Her hybrid collection, Wavering Futures, is forthcoming from Metatron Press in 2026. You can find more of her work at kawaishen.com

Image credit:

Odilon Redon, De duisternis. Lithograph in black on ivory China paper, 1892. Ruks Museum, Amsterdam. Available at:https://g.co/arts/RByZoRNzVQJ71uxu5