"The Sign" by Sally Deskins

Obsession Jamming


inspired by Whitney Houston’s I Will Always Love You

surround sound
full volume, stereo

resounds around
apartment complex

like rock concert
pavilion, next block

bass, my heartbeat
and I don’t care

if dull neighbors complain
again, over and over

this song about you, I
swallow stiff sip straight scotch

will always love
your hands beneath

my skirt—your flannel shirt— I
can still smell you, I

watch you and your wife blur
through my window, I

swallow stiff sip straight scotch
will always love us

across the parking lot I can see
her smile, your face

turns the other way as if
I never existed

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LAURIE KOLP, author of Upon the Blue Couch and Hello, It's Your Mother, has poems in concis, Prelude, Crack the Spine, Gargoyle, and more. An avid runner and lover of nature, Laurie lives and teaches in Southeast Texas with her husband, three children, and two dogs. Learn more at http://lauriekolp.com.

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SALLY DESKINS is an artist and writer focusing on the perspectives of women in art. Her art has been exhibited nationally and published internationally. She illustrated Intimates and Fools (2014, Les Femmes Folles Books, Nebraska Book Award Winner) and Leaves of Absence (2016, Red Dashboard). She is founding editor and curator of Les Femmes Folles, an organization dedicated to women in art.