Image © Mistral Celeste Khan-Becerra 2018
| by Jennifer Skelton | October 30, 2018 |
Edie Sedgwick’s ghost is crying alone in a corner and all I can do is offer her cigarettes. They aren’t even my cigarettes, but I offer her a few nonetheless. She blows smoke rings and digs her hand into a candy bowl full of powder. We are still.
Edie Sedgwick’s ghost is perched on the edge of a bare mattress. We are talking about all of the people we miss—
Everyone we have ever loved,
Everyone we could ever love,
Everyone we love.
We agree deadnames should stay deadnames and that acid mouth is lining your cheeks with
peaches. We agree depression is lining a coffin with fresh flowers plucked from a public garden just to wait and watch them wilt.
Edie Sedgwick’s ghost has a pink starfish tongue licking at straws from plastic cups. She is blue lipped baby buying me drinks and blowing me kisses. She asks me to dance with her and whispers into my ear. It’s not just a whisper, it’s a secret. I can’t hear her.
Edie Sedgwick’s ghost hangs her head in the toilet of the penthouse room we are sharing. She tells me I’ll have to foot the bill. I borrow the money from FEMA. She slurs and salt-water eyes leak into the drinking water. Edie says she sad for Flint, Michigan. She says she would drink the flood waters in Houston. She thinks she started the wildfire in Eagle Creek with her womanly rage, all pent-up and dressed-up as submission.
Edie Sedgwick’s ghost is crying in the corner. We are still.
__________
Jennifer Skelton is a poet and artist living in Buffalo, New York. Her chapbook Gin was released in March, 2017. It is an exorcism of the demons created by domestic violence. Currently, Jennifer is working with artists to curate a variety show which celebrates women in all forms. Her work has been published in Ghost City Review, Philosophical Idiot, and the anthology My Next Heart: New Buffalo Poetry .
Mistral Celeste Khan-Becerra is a Chilean poet and artist based out of Buffalo, NY. She loves her hometown and finds nostalgia around its every corner. Mistral has provided cover art for five publications through CWP Press, including her own chapbooks: Could I Stay Here and Where Have You Been For So Long. Mistral’s work was featured in the show Plz&Thx in Janurary 2018. Born a strict Taurus, she is stubborn in her form, but rages on.