On a Dream
Madeleine Gallo
CVS has run out of lipstick
and I don’t know what else to get you for Christmas.
There’s a purple and gold one you would have liked—
it’s called Raspberry Sundae.
The sign says good for crying
and you’ve been crying a lot lately.
But I missed my chance
and the shelves are empty now.
I am sorry for your tears,
which might have felt more beautiful,
had they ended in
purple and gold.
Madeleine Gallo is currently a first year MA student at Wake Forest University. She received her BA from Virginia Tech in 2017 and had the opportunity to work firsthand with poets like Lucinda Roy and Nikki Giovanni. Her work has appeared in Susquehanna Review: Apprentice Writer, Fermata, Sun and Sandstone, Belle Reve Literary Journal, The Pylon, Into the Void, and Rattle. After graduation, she plans to pursue a PhD in Contemporary American Poetry.