by Seth Hagen
In twenty-three
Ascot appearances,
the princess wore
twenty-two hats.
Each rode a starry
saddle of mind but
could not break
what would not be
broken. At the museum,
a tall man’s taller hat
enshrined in glass.
The hats of the dead
live on. Inflammable
death masks of who
we wanted
to be.
Seth Hagen lives in Atlanta. His work has been featured in Verse Daily and appears or is forthcoming in Sugar House Review, DIAGRAM, Willow Springs, LIT Magazine, Gone Lawn, Unbroken, and other journals.