Marybeth Rua-Larsen

Snakes
coil tighter than hair in hot rollers, and the resulting curls, when sprayed, lift them six inches from her head. The Aqua Net dulls their writhing and hissing but not their murderous intent, though it will not be their poison that kills. She sits on a stool at her vanity, applies heavy black eyeliner and tears so she can blend in with the crowd at the Alice Cooper concert. Who needs a kitten when you can be wrapped in a twenty-foot python? She has played this game before, knows the kind of boy she wants to bring home and look in the eye.

Marybeth Rua-Larsen loves to straddle the line between poems and flash fiction. Her poems have appeared in Magma, Eclectica Magazine and Crannóg, among others, and she recently had a piece accepted for Best Microfiction 2026. Her chapbook Nothing In-Between is available from Barefoot Muse Press.

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