Francesca Kritikos

Red velvet cake

from a box

smothered

in milk-white frosting

Everyone has a fork

& we stab at it

all at once

& we eat

what we kill

until there’s nothing

but red smudges

on our mouths

like fresh blood

This feels good

This feels like

it means something

HTML

Throwing up into sinks

sending you emails

wanting to be your

Craigslist Missed Connection

wishing it was like, 1997

& I existed within HTML

& that you were a blue link

I could click on and consume

Mantra

My favorite movie

has 5% on Rotten Tomatoes

so like, fuck every man

who acts like he knows

some objective truth

Francesca Kritikos is from Chicago. Her poetry has appeared in Peach Mag, Hobart, Hotdog Mag, and more. Her chapbook, IT FELT LIKE WORSHIP, was published by Sad Spell Press in June 2017. She tweets @sappho1996.