Valentines: “I still message my exes on their birthdays” by Selena Cotte

I still message my exes on their birthdays

In this ritual I will count to sixty 
and envision palm trees on the back lot
hiding sincerity behind faux sincerity
sending Trojan horse after horse
simply by clicking your image on the screen:
I must confess: I had noticed you earlier
praying in the American chapel
blessed by the manufacturing gods
and I, too, know not of frivolous dream-chasing
only hard work & electrical grids.
I’m so proud of us I want to squeeze. 
How silly to think 10 years ago,
we were once charlatans, scamming each other,
playing half-naked charades in the jazz band room—
I, for one, am doing much better now, wearing J. Crew
and smiling at men who don’t remind me of you.

About Selena Cotte

Selena Cotte is a poet/writer/shapeshifter with work in/forthcoming from Landfill, Sad Girl Review, Maudlin House, Hobart, & other journals. She grew up a few miles from Disney World.