*all names have been changed

*Trenchia is a warrior in the world of death that she entered by mistake / She carries a rose in her mouth that absorbs blood / turns into a sword when she needs to fight a beast / her horse looks like a robot horse but breathes air and loyalty / the blond boy follows her around / Across the city, a demon spins in the body of a man until the man is split in two / sometimes the man is upside down and spins on his head / Trenchia says you have to forgive, you have to listen / the blood absorbs into her and she uses that to fight the demon / she saves her love at the end and they kiss and she is taller than him but then the demon is rebirthed / it covers the world in green slime and hate and murders everything in the city / the world gets swallowed up in green light and everyone is enlightened in their death and in their love / but we miss Trenchia.

Jennifer MacBain-Stephens went to NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and now lives in Iowa where she likes to rock climb. She is the author of four full length poetry collections and twelve chapbooks. Recent work can be seen at or is forthcoming from The Pinch, Cleaver, Yalobusha Review, Zone 3, and Grist. She also hosts an indie reading series sponsored by the non-profit organization Iowa City Poetry called Today You Are Perfect. Find her at http://jennifermacbainstephens.com/.