by Irina Varina
watering flowers in complete darkness
is deceptively quiet and alone
i walk into the garden like a midnight fairy
thick summer air pressing up against my skin
so close
a breeze comes and goes
a bug comes and goes
i feel water spills landing on my feet
i feel pierced in my bare legs, arms
and under a barely there sun dress
mosquitoes’ erotic games
i come back inside
covered in love bites
blushing
****
Irina's writing has appeared in Hobart Pulp, LIT Magazine, and The Inquirer. She moonlights as the Minister of Loneliness, collecting loneliness claims on busy streets, and, most recently, as an artist-in-residence at Bryn Mawr College, Villanova University, and Swarthmore College.