half the stars live
within you,
somewhere between the throat
and stomach.
you are gilded from the inside
like flashlights
under a sheet.
we read the hands we
were given
and put whispered wishes upon our
palms.
somewhere,
from a house too far
to really hear,
someone
shouts,
and we try very hard
not to listen
Header photograph © Karin Hedetniemi.
N.V. Lott is a poet and student from the South. His work can be found at South Broadway Ghost Society, and was published by tenderness, lit in a rejected poem compilation called all-american rejects.