eva alter
@evaalterpoet.bsky.social
my brain is a forest my poems are maps that index encrypt & resurrect
3 years ago, during a dark night of the soul, I wrote this story about self-punishment, obsession, and dissociation. So happy to see it out in the world. Truly couldn't have found a better home for it than Citywide Lunch. citywidelunch.wordpress.com/soma-sema-by...
“Soma Sema” by Eva Alter.
November 1st It’s November and so it’s my Lent. As the microwave clock hits midnight, I watch wine drip from the glass in my hand onto the ground as if I’m standing fifteen feet away. I squin…
citywidelunch.wordpress.com
@rustandmoth.bsky.social hi! Your bio says you're open for submissions until March 31st, but your website says March 21st. I wanted to check if I can still submit or if I need to wait until June! Thanks!
twin poems "Passenger" in @maudlinhouse.bsky.social (maudlinhouse.net/passenger/) "Kismet" in Eulogy Press (www.eulogy.press/kismet)
![Kismet by Eva Alter
“because a woman’s body
is a grave;”
Dedication to Hunger, Louise Glück
I learned how to do it at fourteen,
that brutal undoing
of desire— a violent purification
ritual, my own;
to rid myself of my person,
temporarily yet entirely
[to rid myself of my soul’s detritus]
that porcelain door going nowhere
but down down down.
I knew I was septic.
Knew my skin had been
made into rot
[knew I had to bear it anyway]
and decided to barter my fate
sacrificing myself to that chasm of
dreck.
Once became dozens became thousands
each time an unwitting move
in some cosmic chess match against
God’s magistrate;
total expiration the loser’s reward.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:igqpg4uo55sdarp6dgayy4iy/bafkreignlen5tee4mkblpzbigz6csxsjopatdbvkcw2kacjv3bzskgw7v4)