Rose remembered how grandmother’s magic shimmered and shivered around them. It smelt acrid and sweet, like burning cupcakes; felt like hot soap bubbles bursting on their skin. Grandmother’s fragile voice would rise and fall deliriously, from crow’s shriek to baby’s burbling chortle. Round again, and again.
So many years ago, lives ago.
Now Rose is grandmother.
The magic swells inside her, wailing and whispering its way from her startled mouth. It pulls at her, wild and strong... and she’s sitting with her mother and her grandmother, and other women, older and deeper... everything echoed in time. Round again, and again.
Around the circle,
ReplyDeletefrom grandmother to mother:
The magic passes.
Jormugandr eats
ReplyDeleteinfinity. Grandmother
dreams ouroboros.
Ancient DNA,
twisted round and round, passed down.
Blood is memory.
In retrospect, would probably change 'grandmother' to 'granddaughter' in the first one.
ReplyDeleteMaybe even
Jormungandr eats
infinity. Granddaughter's
ouroboros dreams.
makes the final line stronger.
So short yet still packs a punch.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Icy. =)
ReplyDeleteThe gift, passed through the generations ad infinitum.
ReplyDeleteI particularly liked the line... and she’s sitting with her mother and her grandmother, and other women, older and deeper...
It gives the vision of a gathering of past generations of the gifted.
Thank you, Steve. =)
ReplyDeleteThe magic ties generations together, lending power and wisdom.