All My Life Has Been A Costume Party
by Jessica Abughattas

​The night was like a planet turning on its axis
tides shifting in some seamless, unnoticeable way.
 
I figured as long as I have to go on with this       existing
I might as well be irresistible, and so
 
buzzing, I took him
like a small cactus fruit into my mouth.
 
I can be this whole tequila bar.
I can be that blonde over there
in a cropped t-shirt shooting stardust through the gap
 
in her teeth. Look—there she is kissing the raven-haired
lady on the lips. And there in the crowd, a man is leaning in
 
and saying something no one will ever remember.
 
But listen close, somewhere in the mob
 
we can hear my Will To Live
saying very carefully: really, I had a great time 

but this party’s almost over.

​
​Jessica Abughattas is a poet in Los Angeles. Her poems can be found at Thrush Poetry Journal, BOAAT, Literary Hub, and elsewhere. Her latest work is forthcoming in The Journal and Tinderbox. She studied poetry at Antioch University, earning an MFA in 2018, and was the editor-in-chief of Lunch Ticket Issue 13. You can find her on Twitter (@jessicamelia22) and on the web at jessicaabughattas.com.

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June 2018