*

I follow an idea

into another store
a spirit shop selling water

for catching angels
you only need a spritz

on your bed sheets
or the corner of a room

I take the bottle from the shelf

it is warm from having been
repeatedly touched

I put it back and reach further
for a cold one

I haven’t had a crush in a while

*

Vertiginous
he strokes my head

you must get put to sleep

he said inside the painting
you were talking about things

they couldn’t
she and they were laughing

I will never be the one
bent over in your opera

unzipped in a museum
reaching for your pocket

under sonorous light
a clump as in nature

delicate anger
the necklace of your childhood

that could not be untangled
this is how the sugar comes

one boot without the other

Stella Corso is the author of TANTRUM (Rescue Press, 2017).