Lucifer In Las Vegas by Joanna Preston

tortoise: from the Greek, tartarchos; ‘god of the underworld’

i. The Fall


As I fell, I burned

through shame and grief

and disbelief and love –

words that trail like smoke,

like broken wings.

Only rage was left –

its silken tongue, its

crystal shell. I fell

through night and time

into the morning

of this world, and

kept on falling.

Once, I lived

by passion’s flame,

but I learned