Cusp
P. H. Low
sex is great
but have you ever tasted the sweet bouquet
of knowing, for one last heady hour,
that the spell you’ve woven
is yours alone?
the hands of your wristwatch
creep toward their apex.
beyond your ring of charcoal,
bullfrogs groan.
you trace the last runes
in the dust of your consummation,
the shine of your power
thick and sweet as milk,
and never want
to let it go.
yet when the time comes,
when the frogs bury their voices,
when the cicadas’ gossamer song
fades into the murk,
your hands unfold—
and the forest, watching,
unhinges its maw.
P. H. Low is a Malaysian Chinese American writer with work published or forthcoming in Strange Horizons, Tor.com, Fantasy Magazine, Abyss & Apex, Star*Line, Dreams and Nightmares, If There’s Anyone Left, Not One of Us, Illumen, TERSE. Journal, Arsenika, and Mithila Review. P. H. attended Viable Paradise in 2019 and currently serves as a first reader for khōréō, a speculative fiction magazine featuring immigrant and diaspora writers and stories.