Sparks like a match—

golden fringe she wears, tier

upon tier, when she

shimmies, it stands on end

flying all its flags at once.

Dark as a corner

his approach, aged

bourbon. Her spike heel

shears his trouser

crease, quick cross, ankle

nip. He whips her around—

she drips down

his torso, each pore

headed back to its seat

wound pulsing.

Karen Hildebrand is the author of Crossing Pleasure Avenue (2018, Indolent Books) and the play, “The Old In and Out” (2013, with Madeline Artenberg). Her poems appear in many journals and scrawled on public toilet stalls across America. She harbors no aspiration to travel in space, but would treasure another visit to Lisbon.