HCE received a lot of high-quality submissions for The Brutal Issue – sadly, too many to fit inside the magazine! So we offered some of our shortlisted contributors the chance to be published on our website.

Keep an eye on our social media for more great writing like this, in the run up to the release of The Brutal Issue…

---

Amaranthine Marriage Blues

Charlotte Begg

Before he knew it blisters had pissed

ruptured within

while my lip was curled,

frothing, until

a spit of venom hit the man.

His laughter finished and

his face now; mackled skin

melting thin with

an eye socket on show.

His ball dropped,

and for the first time in his life

he complimented my shoes.

---

---

CHARLOTTE BEGG lives on the archaic Isle of Wight, UK with her four children and husband. She splits her time between family, studying and creating poetry and art.