Ashli is a graduate student in the MA in English at Azusa Pacific University. She began writing at a young age as method of coping with isolation and abuse. Now she aspires to use writing to produce works that represent the underrepresented, focusing on topics like mental illness, sexuality, and identity.
Knuckles
I fight it most when I wake, When I’m faced with decision To live Shhh While my eyes are still closed It begs me to ignore Whistling birdsong Whispering wind I open my eyes When I sit up in my bed It grabs me by the back of my shirt Don’t Pulls my collar against my neck, Chokes me so I can’t fight back I stand When I stare at hanging clothes Faced with decision—again— It bids me return, Its voice like feathers Against my cheek, To sleep Come back I dress When I enter my car, Drive onto the street, It caresses my ear Tells me to turn just a little, Meet that car nose to nose, Sweet nothings, darling I drive carefully But still, It whisps out of my car with me, Hugs my ankles like a cold mist Of iron chain Dragging on the asphalt, A screeching only I can hear Give up I fight until my knuckles Bleed