Transformation of the Rule-Broken

All those years in water, now when wet

I’m wood-grained. I came out

dark swirled, flesh shivered off –

but only a skin that didn’t fit.

What else is witchcraft?

Sweat like burnt coffee. Hair.

Speaking in a voice not your own;

until it is, until you have become.

Flesh becomes timber.

Crow becomes bear.

About the author

Toby MacNutt is a nonbinary trans, disabled artist, author, and teacher, who lives with their partner, enormous pointy-eared dog, and definitely not too many house plants in Burlington VT. They have recently been published by or have work forthcoming from Strange Horizons, Vulture Bones, and Liminality Magazine, with a collection If Not Skin published by Aqueduct Press in 2018. Their other art forms include textiles of all kinds, and ground and aerial dance. Find out more at www.tobymacnutt.com or say hi on twitter @tobywm.

Photo by Gabriel Jimenez on Unsplash.