This poem is part of a short collection titled “The Virus,” exploring stigma, female sexuality, desire, repulsion, loss, and the impossible hilarity of navigating the New York City dating scene. See more from this collection at glitterMOB, listen at Ink & Worm, and keep your eyes peeled for forthcoming poems at Yes Poetry and The Boiler Journal. 

The Virus Finishes Alone

the tender rejection: “it’s not you
it’s me and the Virus    I’ve never danced
with nerve   like this  held a cell by the skin
of my teeth”        he wants to bore
a hole but not enough to pierce the fine line
of sterility   he wants to get close
enough to look and not see     open
to me    I am not fit   to crank
your flower    release some seed   what hypocrite
could I be, what vice     what steam—

Recommended reading: “KATIE LONGOFONO AND MIRIAM NASH READ BLUESTOCKINGS“

Katie Longofono received her MFA in poetry from Sarah Lawrence College, where she directed the 2014 SLC Poetry Festival. She is the co-founder of Dead Rabbits Reading Series, a monthly literary salon that takes place in NYC. She also co-produced AmpLit Fest, in partnership with Lamprophonic and Summer on the Hudson. Her first chapbook, The Angel of Sex, was published by Dancing Girl Press in 2013. Her chapbook Angeltits is forthcoming from Sundress Publications. Her work has appeared in or is forthcoming from Tinderbox Poetry Journal, BOAAT, South Dakota Review, Juked, Midwestern Gothic, and more. She may or may not be on Twitter. She lives in Brooklyn.