Julia Hines

Ashland Undergraduate

SAFE

Bug bites on milky skin, 
swollen, 
light pink like the birth 
of a sunrise on a humid day,
perfectly circular, puffy. 
Serrated nails punching  
crescents moons 
onto the spots in x’s.
It’s how we were taught 
to get rid of the itch. 
Clear, sticky fluid 
flows from scratching 
the bite, 
coats patches of my skin 
like a quilt of nature’s balm. 

She forgot the bug spray, 
and I’d forget to breathe
if it wasn’t for the rise
and fall of her chest 
beneath my arm, 
warm—a balm better
than any spray could hope
to replicate, even if they
had her exact scent—
floral, spicy, 
a cinnamon flower. 

Plastic tent floor crinkling,
I itch my ankle until the
crescents come back bloody,
like a warning to sailors; 
her seas, you shall not cross, 
unless you wish to perish. 
Her flowing hair, her 
enchanting presence—
A siren in my bed, 
sirens in my head, 
until the metallic scent
is superseded by my inhale 
of her, 
and silence fills my head. 

Sirens only prey on men. 
She knows women recognize
what it means to love someone. 

JULIA HINES IS A SENIOR AT ASHLAND UNIVERSITY STUDYING ENGLISH AND CREATIVE WRITING WITH MINORS IN ETHICS, RELIGION, AND MATH. SHE IS THE PRESIDENT OF EAGLES FOR PRIDE, A MEMBER OF THETA PHI ALPHA, A WRITING ASSISTANT AT THE WRITING CENTER, A PEACE SCHOLAR FOR THE ASHLAND CENTER FOR NONVIOLENCE, AND A CREATIVE NONFICTION EDITOR ON THE BLACK FORK REVIEW.