' ghost of cinnamon, wet dog & bog blood' — poetry by Trista Edwards

Milk Shadow Has a Pregnancy Dream & Meets Mama Mud-Nest

clay-heavy barrel she rolls eyes sleep sticky as snail milk
shadow descends to hum swaying cool under ceiling fan
& dreams sweet like tapped maple tiny hand claws tic
nighttime tics milk shadow cows to cockcrow stay sticky
more time briny tide licks the hum tongue mud body heart
twig gathered hair candy shell damp ink halo tight dream
deeper mama mud-nest is here baby house critter-maker
droop belly & breasts yawn empty milk no worries mama
mud-nest is here sleep little shadow sleep milk sleep belly
sleep critter & wade ink deep milk shadow mama is here

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Earth Hatchling

Scent of clung earth, his first perfume—
muck of silt, rust-bloom, ghost of cinnamon, 
wet dog & bog blood. Mama Mud-Nest pulses 
a riverine flood. Twigs a shudder & pelt matted, 
damp with the history of skin. Shell-shards break 
to a crown of pearly blue—he blinks, 
a swamp jewel, slick & new, daubed in preening oil. 
Splayed like star anise inside hollow bone. 
The grand creature unfurls atop the bower 
of his exit. Mama Mud-Nest contracts 
his old cradle from her mossy cup, ink gloss
& feral musk—the breath of earth’s core, still hot
with the body’s deep work. Nest & hatchling
smolder in the primordial spoor of their becoming.

These poems are from DEATH ROLL, a new book out with White Stag Publishing.

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Trista Edwards is a poet, editor, and scholar whose work dwells in the intersections of folklore, myth, and the macabre. She is the author of the poetry collections Death Roll (White Stag Publishing, 2026) and Spectral Evidence (April Gloaming Press, 2020). Her creative projects often draw from Southern Gothic themes and speculative literature, interests that also inform her personal life as an avid horror fan.

Currently, Trista serves as an Acquisitions Specialist and Developmental Editor at Atmosphere Press, an independent hybrid publisher based in Austin, Texas. Her editorial portfolio includes editing the anthologies #BLOODLORE (White Stag Press, 2025) and Till the Tide (Sundress Publications, 2015). Her own writing has been featured in a variety of literary journals, including The Adroit Journal, 32 Poems, and Southeast Review.

Trista earned her Ph.D. in Creative Writing from the University of North Texas after completing her M.A. and B.A. at the University of West Georgia. She lives in Hiram, Georgia, with her husband and two children, where she is currently at work on her debut novel.

You can find more of her work at www.tristaedwards.com.