Saturday Night Polka

by Jen Michalski

She waltzes eighty-two years of memories and bones in polyester. The others polka around her, blurs of red and white and chintz and perfume, as she moves in a controlled circle, like a ballerina in a jewelry box. Her eyes are drooping rose petals; behind them, she is twenty-four, lithe and limber, her hair dark oiled like sealskin, her lips bloody like birth.

Jen Michalski lives in Baltimore. Her work has appeared in more than twenty-five publications, including McSweeney's, Failbetter, The Pedestal Magazine, The Summerset Review, and Thieves Jargon. Her collection of short fiction, Close Encounters, is available from So New Media (www.sonewpublishing.com). She is the editor in chief of JMWW.

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