I want to be bathed
in Baby’s Breath, pure white, sinking
below tiny buds like
Ophelia drifting
into the void
made of Ivory soap
a thick cream you could bite
right into Your
incisors won’t draw blood
from me This
time nothing will soil
my purity I
am a cloud, a holy ghost,
a martyr who died
for the cause For
the absence of color the
way they wanted me
Blank
as a canvas so they
could see the quiet tragedy—
the gold standard
of art
Elizabeth Estochen is a queer, nonbinary writer in Denver, Colorado. Her chapbook, For Love, and for Cruelty was published by WordTech Editions in January, 2020. Follow her on Twitter @estochen or her website, http://estocheneditorial.com.
Emerge Literary Journal 