Ellie White
A Broken Ode to Many Things
I like my painted nails against the black
of my bomber jacket. I like bomb pops
but not when it’s cold outside. I like outside
when there are mountains or beaches.
I like beaches in all seasons except red
tide. I like tidal flooding in mermaid hues
unless it’s in my path. I like my path
but only when it goes somewhere that smells
sweet. I like sweet smells as long as they’re
not too expensive. I like expensive best
when it’s on someone else.
Ars Poetica with a Twenty
My friend says to soak a hankie
in perfume & tie it inside
your bra. I drench a Kleenex
in raspberry body spray
& use scotch tape. In the car
next to me, Mom sits clueless.
She rolls the window down,
pops the hatch when instructed.
I stare straight ahead, listening
to sniffs & pants, the dogs
among our luggage so close
I can smell them. The agents
wave us on. I’m never one
to attract suspicion.
Doe-eyed, soft-spoken, cute
as a fuzzy brown caterpillar
before you feel the sting.
Ellie White holds an MFA from Old Dominion University. Her work has appeared in Painted Bride Quarterly, The Indianapolis Review, and many other journals. Ellie is the author of three chapbooks, Requiem for a Doll (ELJ Publications 2015), Drift (Dancing Girl Press 2019), Vanishing Below the Waist (Querencia Press 2024), and one full-length collection, and for too long after (Unsolicited Press 2019). She is a reader for Muzzle Magazine. To read more of her work, visit her website: elliewhitewrites.com.