He’d rechristen her Mary Ultra
America or Electric Cherry Blonde.

Lou Reed would write her into song,
a Goddess among the godless.

She’d roughen up the edges
of her accent, blossom

into a silk print, a movement;
a flamethrowingsequinedlegend.

Her ex-life extinguished
on East 47th Street;

she’d be split by grief
so precise so perfect

she wouldn’t feel
the cleaving.

---

Alex Stolis has had poems published in numerous journals. Full length collections Pop. 1280, and John Berryman Died Here were released by Cyberwit and available on Amazon. His work has previously appeared or is forthcoming in One Art, Piker’s Press, Ekphrastic Review, Louisiana Literature Review, Burningwood Literary Journal, and Star 82 Review. He lives in upstate New York with his partner, poet Catherine Arra.