Cupid and the Party Dress

Cupid and the Party Dress

by Cassie Sparkman


Psyche in a party dress, sidewalk traffic leaving
Room around the yellow skirt, it is bright broad
Day and her face a portrait of the night before—

She keens, her mouth open, the sound horribly
Beautiful, she will kill herself with sadness
In a party dress—sidewalk traffic leaving

Room around the yellow skirt, room for me but
My wings will not respond, my breath will hold
All day, amazed at her face, portrait of night's moon—

I will fly away, find some witless beast, drop him
Before her—I will watch her mouth round, helpless
When my arrow splits her party dress, bloods

The sidewalk—Is this Love? I cannot leave nor
Bear to stay, I swear my heart's flesh bleeds, floods
All of day but her bright portrait face from my sight—

I am captured, helpless; I sink an arrow deep
Into my chest, my hands the bow—she looks at me,
Spins her party dress, clears the sidewalk for my falling
Into day, her face a portrait of my ever-after nights


Cassie Sparkman received her MFA in poetry from the
University of Washington. Her work has been seen recently
in The Laurel Review, Story South, Crab Orchard Review,
32 Poems (forthcoming), and other journals. Cassie lives
in Chicago with her husband, playwright Aaron D. Carter.




from APJ v2i1, American Poetry Journal