Katelyn Hinman

but i saw you today
without the delightful pleasure
of hasty introductions
of trivial formalities
...

boat stave ribs and thin jutting hips
a cacophony of defiled desire
heaving through pretty pale blooming lips
she writhes alone on the funeral pyre
...

we shuffle home across the grainy sidewalk
shivering against the autumn chill as we do every afternoon
full backpacks and gaudy designer bags slung over our weary shoulders
as usual, i unwillingly overhear the conversation around me
...

(red. green. yellow. blue.)
in my eyes the carnival lights bathe you in such a manner
they illuminate the dismal grey of your complexion
enchant that polyester tragedy upon your head
...

i see your colored christmas lights are still up
in the very middle of august
you remind me of our first holiday together
tears descending your bare cheeks
...

i often wonder what keeps me from committing suicide
last night it happened to be pasta (accidentally topped with tomato paste)
forty-ounce cherry-and-coca-cola frozen convenience store drinks
two brand-new packs of mentholated marlboros
...

hip cocked
precise curvature of womanhood
tapered and tailored
you say love handles
...

again i am sorry
little words

for a grandiose apology
...

deep despicable entity oh how you spite me
to feel this in your core on a microscopic level

ions neutrons atoms molecules
...

defeated
he sauntered wordlessly through the studio
piling whatever he could fit
into two flimsy plastic grocery bags
...

condensed crowded words in pink ink on sallow skin
trite innumerable nothings

scrub and scrub half-hearted lies from indignant palms
...

chewing on ice relieves sexual tension, i offer

deliberately he crunches down
on what is left at the bottom of his dinner glass
...

awaiting that yellow bird
i settle like marine snow
ardorous, flat-on-my-face
...

grandparents’ day:
bagel halves
drill team demonstrations
hispanic modern art
...