Ellie Cottrell is an Australian writer and poet working on Whadjuk Noongar Country. Her writing has appeared in Meniscus Literary Journal, PULP Lit Mag, Creatrix, StylusLit, Poetry d’Amour and elsewhere. Ellie released her first poetry collection, Speakeasy, via In Case of Emergency Press in 2023.

                                           aloe vera 

you’re hot as a toothache,
you.

i want you sticky like 
aloe vera; the kind that
comes in a tube. i want
you cool beneath my hands

I want you pretty as a
poster; the kind produced 
on the cheap. i want
you pinned against my wall.

i want you flushed like
a sunburn, raw like a
rash, wet like a splash
of warm water.

you’re hot as a toothache,
youNo stone unturned

The time is ripe to unpeel our
skins. Let’s get stuck in.

Your hands encircle safety
so I keep zero from you.
Relief, a fancy wine glass,
girl dinner, built for two.

Tonight we’ll leave
no stone unturned:
Scrub the verdant moss.
Watch slaters scuttle out.

Tonight we’ll end with
G&Ts - we both agree on lime.
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