Commended: Clara Capgras, Two Catholic girls dance to Charlie XCX

Clara Capgras

Commended, 2026 Tower Poetry Competition, 'A Riddle'

Two Catholic girls dance to Charlie XCX

11:39pm and I am eulogising the French lace appliqued to your bra;
Esoteric love turned blue then red in the flashing lights

Of Emily Risowlski’s house party. We have soaked ourselves
In just enough glitter and alcohol

And false apostasy to kiss in a way that neither of us will have to confront
Tomorrow, when the hysteria has worn off and we are just two sad girls. After all,

You are you, and I am me.
This is the expressed true fact. This is the impossible condition.

Perhaps if, when I kissed you, I could find
More than just cathedrals in your lips

Then we’d have a chance of getting out of here.
But for now the mediocrity of our forbidden longing

Is tearing me limb from limb. Like Schrödinger’s cat: half dead,
Half alive. Caught on the cusp. Heaven in a burning church basement.

Last time you cried it tasted of scrupulosity. I licked the salt tears up,
Re-applied your mascara, felt my heart flutter down

To the tips of my toes. I asked you to call me obscure one more time. You told me
You loved me more than you loved God. I pretended to believe you, pretended that
 

The riddle of our sin-steeped love wasn’t a burden,
But a relief.