Kimberly Ann Southwick

NEAR SONNET FOR NAN GOLDIN

Every portrait is a smoked cigarette,
ashes as paint in an eyeshadow well.
Men who are women, Carmine to Caramel,
and don't blink, you'll miss it. Russian roulette
in a casino stairwell, last to bet.
Guns are commonplace nightstand motel
accessories. Mirrors, broken tiles, spell
farewell. The emulsion speaks. A brunette
smiling, topless, carpet as her ashtray—
how much does that kind of blind hunger weigh?

Kimberly Ann Southwick is the founder and editor in chief of Gigantic Sequins. She has a chapbook of poetry out, every song by Patsy Cline (dancing girl press, 2014) and another, efs and vees, forthcoming from Hyacinth Girl Press (2015). Visit her website at kimberlyannsouthwick.com & follow her on twitter: @kimannjosouth