The following poem was written for my amazing Girl-Beast Zoe Cope, the creative designer of Renegade Red’s covers, artist behind The Light Trilogy Jewelry line, and soul sister. Each image in this poem was inspired by her personal jewelry line “birds n bones.” After the poem, I show the pieces that inspired each image! Go to  www.birdsnbones.com to see the pieces in more detail.

bnb— for Zoe

The silver-wrought claw
digs the deep, winding sett;
she’s a darkling,
Mage-Voyager:
pincer-nosed,
dragon-breathed.

Birthed in the suck,
eggs her meat, scute-skin spines,
her children are pythons
bat-winged, elk-tooth tined:

See their veterbrae twist with snake ribs, with mus tails,
feel their dermal-boned feathers, feel the rips in their nails,
their eyes made of diamonds, of mouse skulls, of scales,
they are equus, vulpini, are beetles and whales—

and they scream as they sing, howl metal and stones
they gil-call under water, shark-teeth flinting jewel-tones
they yawp chains of silver, build roars into thrones
for the mothers who make them

the birds
and the bones.

Annotations: See the jewelry pieces which inspired each image!