Masterful that slow bleed
Of one straw-colored tint into the next
As if that shrewd metamorphosis
In shades of blond were possible
Masterful the smile and condescension of an arm
Draped casually across the back of your chair
A hand with nails that suddenly dig in hard & fast
The hollow sensation you get when they let go.
Would you like to kiss her?
What would making love be like?
What would her sudden death enable?
Release from days of servile gratitude for being noticed
The end of all the conversations you crave and rage against
And even then the hopelessness
Of ever being free of her.
Are you so used to being used so well
Each time you take this seat, lean in, anticipate the feel
Of teeth coursing through flesh, while in plain view
A napkin wipes the excess of you from her mouth?
Do you think she’ll hunger for you again?
Take up this blood-filled sack you’re in?
A day a month from now anytime soon?
Or is the fear of your own superfluity
What keeps you coming back to this rickety café table
Discoursing with casual civility on the Poconos Motherhood George Saunders
Back-to-School Shopping while sipping something icy
From a toss-away cup?
Nadia S. Mahdi lives and works in Washington D.C., where she has been making creative work in theaters, on paper, and in the classroom for the last 15 years. A graduate of Reed College and UC Berkeley, she teaches at Georgetown Day School and has published poetry in Oberon Poetry Magazine. Favorite twists on the revenge narrative include Beatriz Serrano’s Discontent, Robert Browning’s”My Last Duchess,” and the Lucy Liu fight sequence in Kill Bill.
