Radiant

Harmless, they said
to the glam girls
persuaded to point 
brushes with perfect pouts.
Lip, dip, paint,
they said. Repeat.
The girls complied,
gleeful in the art,
military precision
glittering green,
numbers dialed in,
time illuminated.

Harmless, they said.
Lip, dip, paint.
The ghost girls
wore evening dresses
to work, the shimmer
settled, refined—
a radiant glow
envied by all. 
Brilliant, shining 
stars sparkle,
each painter
a constellation.

Harmless, they said,
even as teeth decayed, 
jaws crumbled
stillborn protests
claimed, denied—
an occupational hazard. 
The radium girls 
still glow, 
luminescence guaranteed, 
grave consequences
trapped in a half-life,
sixteen hundred years. 

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Carina Bissett is a writer, poet, and educator working primarily in the fields of dark fiction and fabulism. Her short fiction and poetry have been published in multiple journals and anthologies including Bitter Distillations: An Anthology of Poisonous Tales, Arterial Bloom, Gorgon: Stories of Emergence, Weird Dream Society, Hath No Fury, and the HWA Poetry Showcase Vol. V and VI. Her work has been nominated for several awards including the Pushcart Prize and the Sundress Publications Best of the Net. Find links to her work on her website.