After School Club of Cardinals and Moons
Tiny Hauntings Poetry
By Luca Fois (Haunter)
& Ali Choudhary (Architect)
A lilac school bus twitches in the forest, back wheels grooved
into the dirt. Day’s sweaty palms press windows, light’s
knuckles bleed with the shadows slinking through seats.
Inside, a knife perches like a still cardinal on a body, black
ribbons of hair falling. It’s hard to tell whether its heart is
alive, all ballooned with warm blood. The lilac paint is fresh,
only stripping apart where the light does not touch it like
a forgotten high school lover. The intimate lettering now
just an alphabet speckled with dust.
Vines reach out from the trees—as if for a hug—fingers
writhing around the bus. For a moment, it’d seem the bus
would welcome it, as if this destruction could be romantic, but it
grimaces. A lone pink petal slips through an open window,
fresh and alive. Against the light, it resembles a new bruise,
moth wings hit by hailstones. You stop. Smell of cyclamens
pervades the air as the bruises underneath the driver’s eyes
follow you. You step back. The bus opens its doors,
like a mouth of a cadaver opened by a forensic examiner.
The vines strap to your feet. You struggle. You surrender
to the open maw. At the back, you notice his head
immobile on his shoulder. Your feet move, pulled
by the glimmer of the blade. The seats murmur
your memories of snuggles, cuddles, desires
cursed by this night. You free your heart with the knife,
give in to the moon unsheathed from your chest, your last words
a secret to the solitude of the forest. The question
—What matters?—latent in silence.
The driver sighs, closes the doors and follows
the soft running of the badger, the tender hoot of the owl.
Luca Fois is a poet living in Edinburgh, in the liminal space between languages. He loves poetry, writing, and vibing with chaos. You can find him in a local café thinking about the right word to end a line, but also lurking on X @cuttinghail and on Bluesky @cuttinghail.bsky.social. His work has appeared on Streetcake Magazine, Tiny Wren Lit, Corvus Review, Black Stone/White Stone and Spark to flame.
Ali Choudhary is a poet. Instagram - ali.cxyz and more can be found at linktr.ee/eatmyhearts
