I wish I was under a giant disco ball on the ceiling of 1981,
lightning
stitched down my thighs,
a silver tiger
inked on the soft pale calf and all
the black haired boys crowded
around to stroke the sinuous tail until the tiger charges, scarfs down
the flippant stars, me
in the white jeans I never dared own, a whirling
stellar mass, a pouncing
black hole.
–
Deborah Bacharach is the author of Shake and Tremor (Grayson Books, 2021) and After I Stop Lying (Cherry Grove Collections, 2015). She received a 2020 Pushcart honorable mention and has been published in Sweet, Vallum, and The Moth among many others. She is an editor, teacher, and tutor in Seattle.