Poetry
August 2021
NOTES FROM A DIRTY, SHAKEN MARTINI
saturate yourself in me and I’ll have / you sound out “La vie en rose ”
By Natalee Cruz
August 4, 2021

You should have called me when
the bar had an “open” sign for light and
you and your date sat in the pink of it
I would’ve liked to watch
The bar had an “open” sign for light and
you don’t understand a lick of French but
I would’ve liked to watch
you sound out “La vie en rose”
You don’t understand a lick of French but
saturate yourself in me and I’ll have
you sound out “La vie en rose”
your tongue flickering behind your teeth
Saturate yourself in me and I’ll have
you creating personas on the first date
your tongue flickering behind your teeth
spitting lies like, “Ah, yes, I remember the summer of ‘98.”
You? Creating personas on the first date?
I never thought I’d see the day
spitting lies like, “Ah, yes, I remember the summer of ‘98.”
When in reality you were, like, five
I never thought I’d see the day
a first date ditches you after the first round
when in reality you were, like, five
deep on your own, one too many olives bouncing around for good luck.
A first date ditches you after the first round
you blame their inability to listen, convince yourself you are
deep on your own, one too many olives bouncing around for good luck
you don’t need them
You blame their inability to listen, convince yourself you are
perfectly salted on your own
you don’t need them
they don’t even know how to rot.
Natalee Cruz is a Fiction and Poetry candidate at The New School. Her work has appeared in The Spectacle, The Ilanot Review, and The Thing Itself. Her chapbook "I Have Seen The Bluest Blue" is forthcoming from Ugly Duckling Presse in 2022.