OTHER LIVES

​try a different one on for size: one, with
midnight-soaked crystals a sinewy lover with
bossanova music time-travel together but not
together, as a couple, you’ll invent loneliness.
the celebrities will be so jealous, because it’s a
good story for parties. or, add-in all red. have
an affair, with a small, girlish thing or be the
small girlish thing, where red becomes blue
keys to a studebaker, maybe there’s marriage
or, maybe there’s divorce, but either way,
you’ll love fiercely, even after the blood drips
​out of your palms. it’s good to be holy.

Stephanie Valente lives in Brooklyn, NY. She has published Hotel Ghost (Bottlecap Press, 2015), waiting for the end of the world (Bottlecap Press, 2017), and Little Fang (Bottlecap Press, 2019). She has work included in Susan, TL;DR, and Cosmonauts Avenue. Sometimes, she feels human. http://stephanievalente.com