Night is frock.
by Alexis Rhone Fancher

Is long-sleeved. High necked. Night is boot. A thigh-high sonata. Night is b&w, is 100 chandeliers, (that nightcap at 4 Saints) the ceiling a drama, unfolding. (See photo, attached). Night masquerades as dress. Skin tight. Revealing. Night is cocoon. As in nuzzle, scrunch. Night is amnesia. A sucker punch. I thrive in your moist, dark places, baby. My fair skin stark contrast, a moonbeam. Night is me without you. The black as night dress dances alone. Sways, like a hula girl, or a pushover. Why 4 Saints? Which 4? Our host replies: We’re 4-star Michelin rated. Night bears false witness. Frolics with criminals; night refuses to sleep. Night dresses up. (Pearls.) Or down. (Flip flops.) Clings to my sweet spots, those hidden places: elbow crook, clenched fist, the dark between my thighs. Night. Think outside in. I thrive like mushrooms, like neon; I suck up the dark.  
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Alexis Rhone Fancher is published in Best American Poetry, Rattle, Hobart, Verse Daily, Plume, Tinderbox, Cleaver, Diode, The American Journal of Poetry, Spillway, Nashville Review, Poetry East, Gargoyle, and elsewhere. She’s authored ten poetry collections, most recently, TRIGGERED, 2023 (MacQueen’s Publishing); BRAZEN, 2023 (NYQ Books); and DUETS, (2022) an illustrated, ekphrastic chapbook collaboration with poet Cynthia Atkins, published by Harbor Editions. Alexis’s photographs are featured worldwide including the covers of The Pedestal Magazine, Witness, Heyday, Pithead Chapel, and The Mas Tequila Review. A multiple Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee, you can find her at: www.alexisrhonefancher.com