overheard on february 22, 1987
Ashley Bice
The doctors operating on Andy Warhol
took their time moving their eyes
to the clock when they decided
they must call his
death. Said the words
slowly. Let them do a dragging
march along tongues to grant an extra few
fake breaths. Greeted by Marilyn,
surrounded in deflating silver clouds signed with
hieroglyphic lipstick, she tells him
how she was dead long before
she was found. They like to keep our hypothetical
hearts beating a little longer, Warhol says.
Marilyn tilts her head, decides,
They killed me before I stopped
breathing. The pair watch the painting
of a picture in neon
and tin: Paige Powell drops Estée Lauder’s
“Beautiful” into Warhol’s casket.
Marilyn moans a soft song:
They buried me in Chanel No. 5.
Ashley Bice is a poet from Columbus, Ohio. She graduated in Spring of 2020 from The Ohio State University with a degree in creative writing where she focused on writing poetry. When she's not writing, she enjoys watching Gilmore Girls, going on walks with her dog Kacey, and making coffee for the beautiful people of Columbus.