Gargoyle 51
Cover by Patricia Storms
Published 9/7/2006

Why I Love Zombie Woman #6

Elizabeth Brooke Hazen

Because she’s stuck with stiff and stupid legs,
and decomposing skin, but perseveres;
because she sees without eyeballs, she hears
with oozing ears; because her organs, like eggs
dropped from their carton, hit the path with splats,
but still she trudges on; because her need
is clear, uncomplicated: she must feed;
because she barely notices the rats
that gnaw her ankles; because she doesn’t stop,
even after the hatchet hacks clean through
her reaching arm; because she will pursue
her prey till they have nothing left to chop.
Because when she lies in piles, inside out,
she will not know regret, or shame, or doubt.