Ode to Hole's "Live Through This"
High school wooden gymnasium across
my filthy brain, I can’t be sixteen again
but I can press play on the consistent current,
a jolt through the kitchen
as I slam dishes around in the dishwasher,
a machine I could call my bitch, washing the dirty
plates with the hottest water, it’s a summer
heat wave in the box. I imagine bright pink
tongues finding delicious residue
and the skanky build-up on coffee cups.
I rebel and put the wooden handle chopping
knives in with the rest of the silverware.
Courtney rotates and curtsies around
the room I spend so much time in,
she growls, screams like a hearty act
of rebellion, a woman singing like that
and a last name like Love, is singular
yet plural, is a smudge, the whole canvas
with paint left over for your face.
Sarah Lilius is the author of four chapbooks including GIRL (dancing girl press, 2017). Some of her publication credits include the Denver Quarterly, Court Green, BlazeVOX, Bluestem, Tinderbox, and Fourteen Hills. She lives in Arlington, VA with her husband and two sons.