Bone Saint
There is nothing left of her. She sways in the wind. Her platform is a meatheap—the slough and offcut of her flagellations lay in thick layers on the wood.
The shucking knife is in her waistband. She feels every scrape of it against her bare belly. A neon thrill goes through her as metal licks flesh.
She raises her eyes to the virgin and blue light rainsdown. She is luminol pretty. Her scabs become a lace of glitter. The untouched pattycake, piped in yellow roses for her birthday, melts in the sun and she smiles.
Metal Saint
The first time you watch this reel, do it with a blindfold.
Slowly lift the silk from your eyes and let the sharpness come into focus. Unless you want an iron shock—in that case pin open your eyes and let it flood you.
There are one hundred precious metals in this reel. They have been slaughter mined.
Flash Saint
This reel has been sealed in plastic and buried in the blue sand. When you open it, do it with tact—there is a gelignite sanction internally. Touch it once and the saint will appear, or you may touch it a hundred times and nothing happens except the flesh burns from your fingers.
The explosives are tiny crystals of light—afterbirth, coeliac and winedark.
Once you release the saint from this reel he will be thick upon you. He will mist you in ghoul smoke. He will suck.
If you see his face, you are ended. It is the face of the bad man.
Jewel Saint
If you use the oven terminally, you become a jewel saint.
This reel is a compilation of all the gassings. The oven is wiped clean, silver. Stop motion poisons leak from it.
If you look deep into the mouth of the oven, you can see death, the apocalypse, violence.
You can be in the metal tunnel.
Throw the following items into the flames: water, glitter, foil, food.
The flames will change colour and sputter.
Blow out the flames on your sweet sixteen and lie down.
—
Laura Ellen Joyce lectures in literature at York St John University. She is the author of The Museum of Atheism (Salt Publishing) and The Luminol Reels (Calamari Press).