I Help Lara Croft With Her First Kill by Emily Zogbi
in high definition / I can watch her / get mauled by
a bear / a mountain lion / a man / impaled on
a loose piece of metal / a tree branch / a spike
protruding from the ground / drowned in
a river / the ocean / a shallow puddle
of mud / it doesn’t matter how
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it happens / every time / she
screams / moans / grunts / gasps / she
makes it fun / makes me want
to hear the squelch / as she’s sliced apart by
an airplane propeller / a boat propeller
a chopper’s static wing
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I’ve spent a lot of time / with her / Me + Lara
build a fire / Me + Lara
learn to / see in the dark / be invisible / weep
in private / light a funeral pyre / Me + Lara
learn to / be an animal / go into caves
full of / wolves / come back
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changed / ravenous / when he / grabs us / his hand
slithers up our / arm / engulfs our / chin / we know
to / reel back / go for the eyes and / dig / gnash and
grab / anything solid / smash / smash / smash / not stop
till his skull is / a shattered teapot / Lara
retches / turns to the sky / cries
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oh god as in / there is no turning back
oh god as in / I had no choice
oh god as in / this was going to happen anyway
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in the beginning / Lara is / trapped / crawling
towards / daylight / she’s dirty
and broken / and bursts
through the earth / I think
she’s not gonna make it / then
she does
EMILY ZOGBI is a writer from Long Island. By 2021, she should have her MFA in poetry from The New School. Her poems have appeared in Chronogram, Rumble Fish Quarterly, Tinderbox Poetry Journal, Apricity Press and Blue Mountain Review. She wishes she had been a dancer.