Reflection | Temptress

Photography by Liz Boyd

By Zoe Huot-Link

Reflection

She wanted to share

Make life into art

Real wasn’t in her

She tore time apart

Cutting the ties

Something big gripped her

Floating in middle

Sent spine a shiver

The moment her mind

Breaks into bright

A new kind of shine

She dances on ribbon

In darkest of night

Paletted pictures

This rareness to find

Sadness depleted

But something retreated

Sugared perfume

Coconut cream

People just waiting

To be completed

Temptress

I am not your temptress.

I am not

Your Sexual

Desire, your

Dangerous symbol,

The point in your Heroic

Narrative in which you are

Tempted

By a woman’s body,

My

Woman’s Body, your

Fear of submission, your

Forcing of me to be

Subservient to your

Fears of what is my

Beauty, of what

Gives me power,

Of realizing you

Are not the only

Main character

In this story

Zoe Huot-Link was born and raised in Maplewood, Minnesota. She is a winner of the Manitou Creative Writing Fellowship for Summer 2020 through the Literary Arts Institute at the College of Saint Benedict. In Fall 2019 she studied ancient calligraphy and martial arts in China at Southwest University. She writes primarily poetry and creative nonfiction about constructs of beauty and power. Drawing is the other half of her life; you can find her art on Instagram (@zoemae.art).