no beauty in consumerism
but in things
big sparkly things
silk little things
when dealing in silk
you must keep
your fingernails
trimmed just so
my nails are thin
and bendy
dog-eared leaflets
of paper thin protein
I've torn till they bled
on my silk
and so it is ruined
the curve of this nail speaks
for my ruined lung
and my tongue
for this wet spleen
salty slug that swells
and grows larger
in the night
outside the watery traps
of its teeth
the way the echo speaks
for the cave
the way these clothes
speak for a decade
I didn't choose this decade
I was born into
it chose me and so
moves through me
through my bowels
which speak
through a far back place
in the middle of my forehead
the dullest pain
life is no fun without coffee
and sad
and I am sad
to have found no truth
in symbolism
but in symbols
the pounding blue
of a cornflower
next to a cornfield
the tip of a bottle
of nail polish
an hour
it must be love
we talk about death
me the book
the building
on fire
can water
be on fire
I think yes
in a sexual way
I feel sexy now
like putting on jewelry
how cold are you 1 to 10
how tired am I
I have this thing
I think I should use it
you probably won't like it
when I say
pull my hair
I'm growing bigger yes
I'm changing
I think
I need you
I need you to watch
Stella Corso runs a shop called Pale Circus in Greenfield, MA. Some of her recent work can be found or is forthcoming in Caketrain, Notnostrums, Coconut, and jubilat. Her manuscript, EAT ISLAND, was a finalist for the 2013 Black Box Poetry Prize from Rescue Press and the 2013 Joanna Cargill Coconut Prize for a First Book.