Lit eZine Vol 8 | p-2 | POETRY | Feeding Monsters – Manic Sylph Writes… Poetry & Thoughts by Mona Soorma

SHORT POEM

FEEDING MONSTERS
by Arshi Mortuza

A child eating a gingerbread house — *AI-generated Image*

Nibble, nibble little mouse,
Who is nibbling at my house?
- Grimm Brothers, “Hansel and Gretel”

Intrusive thoughts made their way into my gingerbread house,
Presenting themselves as starved children with childlike curiosity.
It started with nibbles on my spiced walls,
sugar-laden door and candied window.
I let them in. They howled when hungry, so I fed them.
They were a menace when let loose —
biting from my chocolate furniture,
sliding off the caramel floors,
and knocking over nutmeg antiques.
I decided compartmentalizing would be a good idea.
I locked them in a licorice cage and tried to ignore their cries for food,
Knowing now that these weren’t children, but merely shapeshifters.
When their shrieks were too loud, I couldn’t help but engage —
Tossing them a chicken bone, if nothing else.
I will eat them someday.
Devour them when they are at their fattest, juiciest.
I walk past the cage every day and throw food —
even at the cost of my sanity,
breaking off pieces of my candied cottage.
Knowing very well that they would cook me in my own oven if they could.

Connect with Arshi Mortuza on Instagram

Arshi Mortuza is a Bangladeshi writer living in Canada. Shaped by her multicultural upbringing, she understands alienation intimately, a theme that often weaves through her work. Her writing explores mental health, the female body and autonomy, identity and belonging, and feminist retellings of mythical and literary characters. She is the author of the poetry collection One Minute Past Midnight (2022) and is currently working on her second book. Through her poetry and prose, she examines the personal and political, reclaiming space for marginalized voices. When she’s not writing, she works as an ESL instructor, helping others find their voice in a new language.