by Marjorie Maddox
Give me the pattern
of pucker clinging so
unsweetly to each cock-
tail glass of seductive
deceit cracked beside
a creased napkin
briefly branded with
blots of Cruel Ruby—
no ambivalent Rorschach
of lips but this identical
XOs match beside a pale
corpse with cheeks
tattooed so beautifully
with the indelible smack
of you, femme fatale,
whose sexy fingerprints,
even now wiped clean,
can’t silence the waxy
poison so proudly
pursing your name,
your telltale moaning
murder of smooch.
Professor of English and Creative Writing at Lock Haven University, Marjorie Maddox has published 13 collections of poetry—most recently Transplant, Transport, Transubstantiation, Begin with a Question, and Heart Speaks, Is Spoken For, an ekphrastic collaboration with photographer Karen Elias—the short story collection What She Was Saying; four children’s/YA books—including Inside Out: Poems on Writing and Reading Poems with Insider Exercises (Finalist International Book Awards), Rules of the Game: Baseball Poems, A Crossing of Zebras: Animal Packs in Poetry; I’m Feeling Blue, Too! (a 2021 NCTE Notable Poetry Book)—Common Wealth: Contemporary Poets on Pennsylvania (co-editor); Presence (assistant editor).
Please see www.marjoriemaddox.com