Elliott Sky Case

COURTING DISASTER

crushing on disaster

text-flirting with disaster

buying disaster coffee

learning disaster’s drink

stroking the short soft hair of disaster

disaster softly lifts your chin

receiving dimly lit nudes from disaster

smelling the panties of disaster

making playlists for disaster

going to the mr softie truck with disaster

spooning against disaster feeling disaster’s bulge

trimming the hangnails of disaster

trading black manicures with disaster

planning dates that will never happen with disaster

you’re both so busy

depending on disaster

kissing disaster’s yellow bruises

imagining a catalog future with disaster

believing disaster’s excuses

naming hypothetical children with disaster

trading novels with disaster

packing a bowl in bed for disaster

calling disaster until six am

remembering every disaster’s birthday

keeping inside jokes with disaster

for years

composing long emails in your head for disaster

sympathy for disaster

heterochromatic eyes of disaster

soft stomach of disaster

my hydrogen echo bad star

FESTE’S TOP 20

dancing at two weddings just taking

care of myself like humans do and finding

ways to express love for others on the same day-to-day basis!

terminal degree in dilettantism with a concentration in desire

I annoy all my doctors when my tongue betrays how I think

I know better than them. stuck between mid-90s gender labels

and expired entries of the DSM––yes, I love vintage, I love camp!

bringing myself to orgasm off something I once claimed to only like

ironically ;) repeat the joke back and forth until it comes true:

snarksexual, bearromantic, hetero bro in flowered vans

skipping belting Stevie across eastern parkway, make

the older man with face tattoos say “sing it girl, you sound good!”

and I HAVE A CRUSH! shouts back the main character in this musical

today I’ll shape my body like a Shakespearean comedy

my wacky misunderstandings my wedding-endings my spontaneous

interlude it is important for the fool to make light

of lovers’ follies to keep the plot going, tightroped against the fall

of a story that ends when everyone dies––and who wants that?

Journeys end in lovers meeting,

Every wise man`s son doth know.

SHAME MACHINE

In my teenage bedroom, I flip through mid-00s issues of ElleGIRL

and Teen Vogue instead of reading any of the books I brought

back with me. I check out the makeup looks and love advice I

used to swallow. I take a bong rip and open OnlyFans on my

phone and watch a woman with purple hair get facefucked until

her makeup looks like a watercolor painting. I’m not sure if I want

my face fucked right now or if I want to be in possession of a dick

that is fucking a beautiful woman’s face. We all know by now the

answer is yes. I think my gag reflex is on the skillful side of average

but I’m not sure. I’ve been told I suck dick like the world is ending.

Once in 9th grade I was giving my ex-boyfriend head on the

rooftop of his apartment where he took my virginity and when he

gently stroked my hair I burst into tears. I thought we were beyond

affection and here he was luring me with it again, my domestic

animal love and his handful of treats. Whenever I tell men that I’m

both afraid to question the things that make me feel good and

afraid not to, they tell me not to think about it too much or too

hard. I mean, duh. There’s a reason crazy girls are the best in bed.

When I laugh it’s because I don’t take myself too seriously, not

because on some level I still think I should take whatever I can get.

The purple-haired girl, all perky tits and tattoos and gorgeous

destroyed eyeliner, is turned over now, ass spanked bright red. I

climax one two three times, and close the window.

Elliott Sky Case is a poet and visual artist from California. Their work—which has appeared in Hobart Magazine, Ghost City Press, and elsewhere— explores pop culture, personal identity, and learning self-validation. Elliott's chapbook get home safe was the winner of the Midwest Writing Center's 2016 Chapbook Prize. Elliott received their MFA from New York University, writes for Metro Silicon Valley's Arts and Entertainment section, and lives in Brooklyn. They can be found at elliottskycase.com