Panic in a Pink Dress

You set

on the edge of the bed

like the sun

telling the same story
scraping the same scum

under bit nails under
your calloused thumb

you’ve got me

in a panic

in a pink dress.

             I would have said yes to a death threat.

I would have

sucked your knuckles

all tender

as the television flickers

bright light swallowing your eyes
as the black and brutal eve

swallows us relentless

breaks us

like nature

is indifferent
to the death of us.

But you, blooming ruthless
and so aware

of my fight and just how violent

a Saturday night
dare could bribe

a girl to become
from her skeleton’s grip

spilling secrets out of hair loose
lips and cigarettes

laughing discretion
from the kitchen

sweet-mouthing
her cheeks to blush and
that blush dress up her hips.


Devon.J.Boen

Devon J. Boen is a writer who currently lives in Wyoming. She received her undergraduate degree in creative writing from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 2012. Her work has appeared in several literary journals including the Eunoia Review and the University of Colorado Honors Journal. She is currently working on a full-length poetry collection as well as fiction and non-fiction pieces.


Devon Boen