Madeleine Cravens

Pleasure Principle

After the party, Ellen choked me against the refrigerator.
It was very quiet. Other students filtered into the snow.

Can there be a story where a character wants nothing?
Even in happiness I did not find much satisfaction––

Or was it the other way around, little crushed-up pills,
desire requiring more desire, streetlights, cruel fields.

Sweet post-nasal drip. Years unwound quickly––
With the momentum of bargains and cold calculations,

destruction could be shaped into a mode of preservation.
I cut my hand on a mirror. A blonde nurse burned it shut.