Sonnet As Katherine Howard's Severed Head
I let the kitchen scissors grow rusty
With rot from the lamb that bathed in moonlight
Before you snatched him for our lovely meal.
He tasted ripe, like raw petals falling
From the hyacinth tree in the courtyard.
Such blood honey blistering across tongues
I lilt open my lips to taste the flesh
Finding the vessels putrid, uncanny
The ironclad veil winding upon my
Head. Oh, Husband, won’t you take that sweet lamb
Lay him down with the honeysuckles and flies
Wade through the river in soaken nightshirts
Only sharpening the knife so sweetly,
When he has fallen down soundly asleep?
Jaden Tyler Urso is a writer and theatre artist based in NYC. More work can be found in Hobart, Maudlin House, and Terror House, among other places. Find her on twitter @jadentylerurso.
