She sees my neck
choker wrapped
dares to graze
the skin beneath
the disbelief
my head is not yet
rolling
In every dream
I hold her hand
and feel her gaze
as the sun
the earth cracks
my lover must fall
to the flaming tomb
the fate of every sinner’s
choices
I open up
on date night
the series finale
we cannot wait to see
the tension build
before the kiss
we start to believe
in happy endings
The lover is shot
thrown off the cliff
sacrificed
the moral of the story
set
She has to go
she doesn’t text
I crawl back in
my sleeping bag
my closet closed
and cozy
Ashley Robles is a queer, Hispanic artist currently residing in San Antonio. She studied English and creative writing at the University of Texas at Austin and is working to normalize chronic illness in her corporate and creative life. Her work has been published in The South Carolina Review, Messy Misfits Club, Grim & Gilded, and Unstamatic, among others. She is a recipient of The Bermuda Triangle Prize and is part of Lighthouse Writers Workshop’s 2022-2023 Poetry Collective cohort, where she is currently working on her first poetry collection. Robles can be found online everywhere @mzashleypie