{"id":3095,"date":"2023-12-01T17:36:54","date_gmt":"2023-12-01T17:36:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/oxmag\/?page_id=3095"},"modified":"2023-12-03T05:41:13","modified_gmt":"2023-12-03T05:41:13","slug":"vermillion-by-emma-wells","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/oxmag\/vermillion-by-emma-wells\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Vermillion&#8221; by Emma Wells"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<pre class=\"wp-block-verse\">On wings of flame\npassion shoots through me;\ntrembling blood \nas wartime rumbling;\ncircling as hungry sharks,\nlatent, yet waiting,\nwith bated breath\nto unleash an ambush. \n\nA taut tension \ncoats my gums\npeeling back truth \nas litmus test paper;\nmy vermilion tongue\nholding secrets as locked chests\nforced to still in attic forgetfulness. \n\nI close my jaw,\nrock to and fro,\nre-rooting myself\nto nursery rhymes,\na swaddled safety. \n\nI don\u2019t want them to see. \n\nAn ugliness\nhides on unsteady stilts\nwhere each bite\ncould unravel me:\nteeth falling forth \nas the missing piece\nof an old hag stone\nrotating in wisdom\u2019s hand\nwearing blank expressions. \n\nSmoothing holes,\nbotching with patchwork gingham,\na mismatched, circus fabric \nis my only shield:\nflimsy as fairy wishes,\ntorn as blunt kisses\non inexperienced mouths. \n\nI toil to conceal \nwishing only to morph\nwithin inky shadows\nwhere you say my name,\nletting my clown smile drop;\nits cherry-red stretch \nsmearing the forest floor \nwith candid drops\nof vivacious, vermilion truth. \n\nYou fold into me\nas a sealed letter \nand blissfully forget. \nI do the same\nmirroring the comfort\nof symmetry.\n\nReluctantly, I turn to face the world\nflashes of vermilion velvet\npaint my lips,\nspeaking soundless flames:\na hot coal truth.\n<\/pre>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:100px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Emma Wells <\/strong>is a mother and English teacher. She has poetry published with various literary journals and magazines. She enjoys writing flash fiction and short stories also. Emma won <em>Wingless Dreamer<\/em>\u2019s Bird Poetry Contest of 2022 and her short story entitled \u2018Virginia Creeper\u2019 was selected as a winning title by WriteFluence Singles Contest in 2021. Recently, she won <em>Dipity Literary Magazine<\/em>\u2019s 2024 Best of the Net Nominations for Fiction with her short story entitled \u2018The Voice of a Wildling\u2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On wings of flame passion shoots through me; trembling blood as wartime rumbling; circling as hungry sharks, latent, yet waiting, with bated breath to unleash an ambush. A taut tension coats my gums peeling back truth as litmus test paper; my vermilion tongue holding secrets as locked chests forced to still in attic forgetfulness. I &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/oxmag\/vermillion-by-emma-wells\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;&#8220;Vermillion&#8221; by Emma Wells&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2310,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3095","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/oxmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/oxmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/oxmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/oxmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2310"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/oxmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3095"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/oxmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3095\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/oxmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}