after Jessica Abughattas
you can only gesture towards it. what is
psychology against the stratosphere?
a scrap of ruby palmed against her wrist.
the tinny ring of the game show host, yelling
i’m so sorry, but that is incorrect! an incorrigible
chime from the nearest automatic teller. he
calls himself a man, & the woman on the radio
says wherever did you learn a thing like that?
the static has been playing across the television,
& instead you are sinking yr teeth into the nearest
maraschino, pondering the exact curvature
of yr own ideal. there is such a thing as opulent,
& such a thing as garish. where does it stop
being about pride? now the woman on the
radio is laughing, windchime & scraping.
the public has a right to know. i have taken
to wearing see through pants. clouds strung
into a belt. the crick of their eyebrow, always
aiming towards nine o’clock. the marquee
above the strip mall video store reads, COME
& GET IT! don’t think anyone’s mentioned
it yet, but there’s a body in the freezer aisle. we
are shuffling by, bubbling at the lips. ten bucks
to the first person who guesses right.