Love Bug Bite

By Macklin Luke

When I say that  

the color of a frozen moment 

muddies the hue of our reticent together 

or that 

a song says Venus imploded from the 

gastric fumes of marital warming 

What I mean to say is 

her name, still branded behind my ear, 

the nakedless carving itself into the split ends 

of the 2 year-long summer in Oklahoma, 

and never 

will I forget the way 

lady bugs smell when they die

Macklin Luke is a sophomore gearing towards an interdisciplinary degree, with focus in Chinese, film, and creative writing. She enjoys reading and writing poetry, and her favorite poet is Charles Bukowski. In her free time, she likes to practice writing, pet her cat, Chichi, and watch too many animated movies.