In the Rust Belt, People Are Pierogis Stuffed with Snow by Justin Karcher

We’re cracking open thermometers with erection pills and scented candles
I’m afraid I’m in love with everybody
But a lot of people have high expectations when snow’s dead and buried

We’re writing eulogies in grease on bathroom walls
Everybody’s never full and the fun parts of us burn with something that isn’t quite desire
But I don’t think there’s a word for it yet

It’s a little more complicated than that, because it’s tough to preserve what makes us great
But we try – there are invisible wrecking balls following us around
So just live while you can I guess – like we have about two months

To kiss everybody we want to kiss, to climb trees in parkways
And shake the hands of branches that touch the sun
To maybe dance in the moonlight when there’s grass on the ground

And music in the air because although the snow is beautiful
We stuff blizzards with everything that makes us sad
And then we build snowmen in our backyards of everybody who has never loved us back

And then we wait for the heat to rise so those memories melt into water
And we can wash our faces with it

Justin Karcher is the author of Tailgating at the Gates of Hell from Ghost City Press, http://ghostcitypress.tumblr.com/gcp003, the chapbook When Severed Ears Sing You Songs from CWP Collective Press, https://www.cwp-press.com/#/when-severed-ears-sing-you-songs/ and the micro-chapbook Just Because You’ve Been Hospitalized for Depression Doesn’t Mean You’re Kanye West from Ghost City Press, https://gumroad.com/l/karcher2017, as part of their 2017 summer micro-chapbook series. His recent work has appeared in Thought Catalog, Occulum, L’Éphémère Review, Anti-Heroin Chic and more. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Ghost City Review. His one act play When Blizzard Babies Turn to Stone premiered in February at Alleyway Theatre in Buffalo, NY. He tweets @Justin_Karcher