edgar allen poe

i changed schools often enough that i read the tell-tale heart three years in a row

m. lamar

an unintended namesake, perhaps, but still. haunting and punishing and erotic, a biting critique that never loosens its jaw. the whip-as-phallus wielded, inserted, castrated; the viewer struck, exposed, severed in place.

notre-dame, westminster-abbey, a church in dublin near the guinness brewery

creatures of the night; expressions of excessive, amoral, dangerous sexuality. transgressive, incestuous kinships based on hunger and desire and penetrative exchange. i wasn’t thinking about any of this when i was nine and pretending to be allergic to garlic but i think about it now when my nose bleeds and i swallow a bit of my own blood.

countess elizabeth báthory, carmilla, lestat, louis, nadine, adrian, eli, miriam, dracula, edward, too, if i’m being honest

all those spooky scary kids movies

my mother's lifelong interest in medieval fantasy and folklore

halloweentown, the legend of sleepy hollow, edward scissorhands, beetlejuice, corpse bride, a bunch of other tim burton movies probably

the yellow wallpaper, among other things

calgary young people's theatre summer camp, where i played lady macbeth