Verdict in Vermilion

Written and Co-Directed by: Salena Figueroa

Co-Directed and Co-Styled by: Amélie Carter

Co-Styled by: August Ervin

Photography by: Felix Tellman

Modeled by: Nhi Hoang, Natasha Lotigo, Blu Campbell, Isabella Lee

A missed kiss, and crushed pomegranate. 

My stained bliss, spilled lips linger red.

Why wait for touch, when none is ever granted? 

If not given, be stripped and named: accused in scarlet, bled.

Painted petals, soft cinnabar, and beeswax. 

My lady pursed lips, posed, and spoke: “Come undone.” 

Splattered in vermillion, steeped in lilacs sweet: the apex.

Framed as the only one; haven’t we already begun?

Don’t speak; don’t utter a single word!

A star burns bright, vowed in silence: ruby lips, pouty. 

Adorned in glittery lights, how pleasantly absurd! 

A streak of red, oh, her painted face that draws in crowds devoutly. 

Face-to-face, a mirror unchanged, save for a captured rose. 

Still missed, a thrown kiss lingers. Gone, yet never truly goes.