Semi-Precious
The doll traveled steerage
in great-grandmother’s
satchel, lovingly knit beaded net
for her hair, headscarf
shielding. The painted
pucker, winged eye
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a butterfly. Few Hungarian
words remain. Goulash and paprikash
its red staining our pot
the onions with skins on for color
and flavor. The doll reproves, haughty
half-smirking: she knows
I have lost the thread.
Tiffany Elliott’s Bones Awaiting the Blaze was awarded the 2022 Hillary Gravendyk Prize, and her work has appeared in Typehouse, Spectrum, and other journals. She is an asexual, neuroatypical, and disabled woman and mental health professional who received her MFA from New Mexico State University, where she was awarded the Mercedes De Los Jacob’s Thesis Prize. Her works explore the mythologies we experience, those we create for ourselves, issues of abuse and trauma, and how people can remake themselves.
