Claire E. Scott
Claire E Scott is a poetry candidate in the University of Arkansas’s MFA Program in Creative Writing & Translation. She has poems published or forthcoming in BOOTH, Hobart, West Trade Review, and others. Claire is the Arkansas International’s Poetry Editor and is on Nimrod International Journal’s editorial board. A native Arkansan, she adores her cat Garfield and does stand-up comedy.



adolescent illustrations     of                       decay



​a tooth
in a glass            of Dr. Pepper:               shrunk
down   in the sugar                    five days
later a caramel-colored              crescent

unprotected       brains
in a bike accident:
watermelon      seeds                  hot pink           guts
fractured rind
               splattered                                   on the rubber 
gym floors

              translucent printer paper                     the youth pastor waved
              he said:
                                          at           first     it’s just             wrinkles
you think you                 love       each other
you can             iron it                  out
the dude gets                  handsy              he says 
                                                                                   you get further up that ladder
you have sex
it’s                     ripped
                          straight down the middle
                            and                    you can even
             tape
             it back together                           try it again  
but the decent guys     will see the truth
see you’re still pretty                much ruined
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