Susana H. Case

Maybe You’re Just a Harmless Flirt

As in coquette and cockteaser,
as in not serious, as in you flirted
with the notion of buying a sports car,
or in Italian, civetta, owl or hussy.
To flirt in Italian, an article advises,
approach the target of your lust and ask,
Is it hot in here, or is it just you?
Guaranteed to put you on track! And
don’t forget when engaged
in an amoreggiamento
to mention how lovely his eyes.

Don’t forget to hope it doesn’t backfire.
Don’t forget harmless, relieved
from damage or loss. Hope he
doesn’t forget, because hurt is
where the body becomes a broken,
abandoned refrigerator, waiting for pickup.
Where the only process left is rust,
where you can end up standing
on the corner of Waverly and Eleventh,
a block from your home, wondering
where you’re going, where the hell you are.




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Susana H. Case is a Professor and Program Coordinator at the New York Institute of Technology. Her photos have appeared in San Pedro River Review and Blue Hour Magazine, among others. Her Slapering Hol Press chapbook, The Scottish Cafe, was published in a dual-language version, Kawiarnia Szkocka, by Poland’s Opole University Press. She authored the books, Salem In Seance (WordTech Editions), Elvis Presley’s Hips & Mick Jagger’s Lips (Anaphora Literary Press), and Earth and Below (Anaphora Literary Press). 4 Rms w Vu is forthcoming from Mayapple Press in 2014.