Hallow of Toska 

By Brooke Westgate

I find myself a wicked place / Where darkness marked it “home” / These 
creatures of an empty space / And I trespass alone. / Lurid hands with 
tinge and twitch / An unearthly sight to hold / Invite me in, they do, I guess, /  
but what a tattered road. / So I squint into unlit air / and eyes bore back 
at me / kept behind limp unkempt hair / and reeking of the bleak. / Take your mask
and try to hide / They’ll tell you they wear two / Once lively, living, 
people / Whose bodies they outgrew. / Sobs slip into stifled silence / an 
otherworldly obsession / to find a soul in highest peril / and keep him as a weapon.

 / “I can’t keep my eyes off you” /
 faintly whispered in the night / But I have gone and paid my dues	   
/ So I hand her a knife. /

About The Author

Brooke Westgate was born and raised in Michigan and is currently finishing her undergraduate degrees of  psychology and english language and literature. She has three poems published in the school’s literary journal, and is also in the process of receiving her creative writing certificate while in the accelerated masters of creative writing program.

She aspires to one day teach poetry at a collegiate level and help to inspire future students to use their full creative and expressive potential. She is also founder and president of the poetry club at her university, where she’s lucky enough to be able to help her peers learn and grow, as do they with her.