if you draw butterflies
on your wrists, they’ll come
alive while you sleep and fly
away into the night and flutter
like sprites. they will murmur
to god, she needs you
now, and they will come back
and sit patiently, still as
stone. they will kiss your
wounds with their wings and wait
for your salvation. but you will still rip
your stitches out and you will still lie
down in the bath tub and you will still
die, even with butterflies on your
wrists and prayers in your head.
"how it really ends" was previously published in Sanitarium Magazine.
Charlotte Covey is from St. Mary’s County, Maryland. She is currently studying Creative Writing and Psychology at Salisbury University. She has poetry published or forthcoming in journals such as The MacGuffin, Night Train, The Summerset Review, and Mochila Review. She is co-editor-in-chief of Milk Journal.