Ashley D. Escobar

Micro Skirt

I keep running 

into the spilled

rancid blue 

slushy 

matcha green 

puddle

in my Brandy 

mini skirt and 

campus boots

I’m thinking

it’s giving open mic

while sitting at an open mic

waiting 

for you to go on

Adrien Brody is looking

for the yummy cheese

you are my New York

genesis I think

a room service burger

would heal me

I’m not an addict

I’m a connoisseur

it’s lent 

but I’m adding 

something new 

to give 

up every day

first it was fries 

then overspending

next pastries

now pizza

somehow 

always on 

the precipice 

of existing 

somewhere 

for only two 

weeks 

at a time

soon

I’ll be 

six hours

behind

in middle school

I’d get

dress coded

by the vice

principal 

who’d say

I can see 

your pussy

why were you

looking

TikTok thinks 

the video of me 

twirling is 

resonating 

am I

resonating 

with you

Ashley D. Escobar is a literary angel from San Francisco, residing in New York City. Eileen Myles selected her debut poetry collection GLIB (2025) as the Changes Book Prize winner. She is a high school dropout who graduated from Bennington College and holds an MFA in fiction from Columbia University.