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Rianon Prushinski is a senior English major at Endicott College in Beverly, MA. She’s grown up on the North Shore all her life in Lynn, MA. As she concludes her career at Endicott, she’s working on her first novel, as well as a chapbook of poetry and flash fiction for the Ibbetson Street Press/Endicott College Young Writers Series.

What Happens in Hell

Rianon Prushinski

Bagpipes and autoharps
             Blister the eardrums
Scooping out your earwax
             And feeding it to you.
Long nails screech across chalkboards
             Sound brings pain.

There is no sun here.
Everything is gas lamps and candles.
It is cold.
And it’s getting colder.

You can either
             Have sex with the devil
Or sit neck deep in the River Styx
             Let mermaids slap you in the face with their tails.

Eat the sweet fruit from apple trees.
Brush golden hair in the mirror.
It’s not all bad; not all the time.
The worst pain is surprise.
Tear it out
Fall to your knees
Kiss the devil on the cheek
Say hell to Icarus for me
Miss the sun
The bagpipes get louder
The autoharps are out of tune.

What I wouldn’t do for a good goddamn cup of coffee?

— Rianon Prushinski

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