By Marisca Pichette
wonder whether they felt
green light slanting along tabletops
black light lurking in the upholstery
dancing orange twisting around
poles hanging above:
spears thrust into crumbling plaster.
wonder whether they felt
green light quiver and fade
black-green twist together, sink,
entering the final death throes of a passion
long extinguished by familiarity.
orange light laughing,
dripping down the arrows they used,
staining the table like
essential oils: patchouli,
cumin;
oil and plaster, charcoal and wax
pierced by a thousand tiny spears
to fresco a heart.
Marisca Pichette is a queer author based in Massachusetts. More of her work appears in Strange Horizons, Fireside Magazine, Coffin Bell, Vastarien, Necessary Fiction, and Plenitude Magazine, among others. She is the winner of the 2022 F(r)iction Spring Literary Contest and has been nominated for the Best of the Net, Pushcart, Utopia, and Dwarf Stars awards. Their speculative poetry collection, Rivers in Your Skin, Sirens in Your Hair, is out now from Android Press. Find them on Twitter and Instagram, and on BlueSky as @marisca.bsky.social.