Compartmentalization of Steam
A wealthy man pays my way enough for me to feel beholden
and now I’m in a swimsuit. We alternate between sauna and
steam room, Hell and Hotter Hell, and he finds the suffering
in each a luxury, his senses delightfully obscured.
Hearing assaulted with hiss; vision blinded by white
wisps of smoke. This is what it feels like
to turn into a ghost. I sit or think I’m sitting.
Condensation slips and sweats until everything
is wet and the same.
Skin never ends and surface
doesn’t know where to begin.
I no longer have a body. His hand
goes to my thigh, but I’ve already disappeared.
His voice, long since drowned, sounds like the drone of insects.
I grow desperate wings and brittle little limbs.
Poetry by Olivia Pierce Graham
Olivia Pierce Graham holds an MFA in Poetry from The New School. Her work has appeared in Botticelli Magazine, Button Eye Review, Ohm Journal, Sad Girls Club, and Silver Needle Press. Cherry Dress Chapbooks published her debut chapbook, Gloom of Excruciating Desires, in 2022.
If you enjoy reading Midsummer Dream House online, you can buy us a coffee. We swear won’t spend it on therapy and pizza.
As an independent publisher, we do not have any large sources of funding backing us. Your donation goes directly to supporting our efforts to bring art and literature to the public and provide a publishing platform for writers and artists. It also helps keep the lights on. As with anything, Midsummer Dream House costs time and cash to run. We use our donations to help cover these costs and greatly appreciate your support. A donation of just $1 makes a difference.