Jailbait

“You know,” she said. “I saw you 

at the bar, on the stool, playing 

footsies with that whore. You

played and played and played

like some slot machine, but I didn’t 

go home and scream at the top 

of my lunges because she knew 

I was there with you, watching.”

“Thanks a ton, hun,” I said.

She was always thinking of an affair.

She wore it on her like mascara.

She carried it around her like a purse.

She held it like a firearm. 

Such inertia.

Such viscosity.

Such snare.

She never forgot.

She stared at every woman alive,

in grocery stores over

fruit and vegetables,

Or at the laundromat 

over fowl wrinkled clothes,

Or at the park while walking

her dumbass dog 

and tossing its shit 

at the kids on the swing sets.

“I’ve modeled myself after 

Stalin, Mussolini, and 

Churchill,” she told me.

Soon after, I found myself 

at the local bar with a couple bucks

and a friend of mine who thought otherwise.

“I’m impressed that you’ve put

up with her bullshit for as long 

as you have,” the dog belched. 

The bastard dog wasn’t wrong.

One night, she invited me to her 

corporate event, and vanished

to introduce herself to these

millionaire scoundrels,

exchange witty remarks,

contact information,

And at some point,

found me

to say, “four of them 

offered to buy me dinner

And discuss job 

opportunities.”

I’d lose her on the

dance floor and she’d be 

swiping herself from 

head to toe with 

every venture capitalist 

like credit card transactions. 

Eventually, she would rebound 

back to me.

“I mean, he came from 

the opposite direction and 

we collided in the middle. 

I didn’t want to

be rude,” she’d say.

Yet, she insisted that

I was the jealous cunt.

One day, she just drowned 

inside of her ovaries and 

vanished without a trace. 

It was like a coin slipping 

into the street parking meter. 

It banged, rattled, and beeped 

but I could no longer see

Or hear it.

No big deal, I’m in a much 

unhealthier headspace now. 

ABOUT

Chris Mardiroussian is a lecturer in the Department of English at California State University, Long Beach. His most recent book is a full-length collection of poetry entitled BLUNDER DOWN UNDER, which Chasing Shadows Magazine called, “A stark and raw style of writing that clearly constitutes the life of a typical miscreant.” In 2019, he won First Prize in the Cinema Italian Style Film Festival (sponsored by the prestigious American Cinematheque in Los Angeles) for his short film entitled IL BREAKUP, which he co-wrote and produced. In 2017, he co-wrote a collection of poetry entitled HONESTY. LOVES. CRUELTY. He has also worked on several independent films such as Friends in High Places (2021), nominated for Mexico City’s International Film Festival, The First Color (2020), won the Disability Issues Award, and The Ties that Bind Us (2019), won the Gold Award for Independent Shorts. His work has appeared in Bloom Magazine, BOMBFIRE, Ice Lolly Review, Maythorn Magazine, Perfumed Pages, Pomona Valley Review, Soul Talk Magazine, and elsewhere. He lives in Los Angeles, CA. You can find him on Instagram.