yellow-ringed eyes stitched into cotton, the hoop tighten to hold you taut. brown curls fixed under a silver crown—light caught in the thread. lean and strong, a body that travels across fabric as if it were your kingdom. yet, darkness was etched into you; I didn’t mean for your jaw to look so cruel. The skin hardened on my thumb as I worked to embroider The Prince: a reimagining of self. Still, I locked away this yearning for you—for me—to be real inside my chest.
Julia Caitlin Fazzari is a queer emerging creative writer, poet, and bookseller living and working on unceded land in Naarm Melbourne. Her interests lie with issues surrounding feminism and environmentalism, but she is also interested in magic and cryptids. Their work can be found in Verandah Literary and Art Journal, G*EMS Zine, and Baby Teeth Journal. Find her on Instagram @lialinari and find her on Twitter @jcfazzari.