there are men with guns across the street some women, too; in uniforms weapons propagated on forearms leashed dogs and blockading cop cars scene is not safe, the first thing they teach you in EMT school I turn back to my phone screen . he’s getting existential again I read the message, ask if he’s […]
when you don’t want her
fragile after I miss you terribly rusting wedding bands a cold bed ink that never dries and after— issuing commands between pills makes estrangement heroism; I wrote you a letter every day even so, you remained with her, an ocean away
Fragmentation of a Semi-Whole Woman
I jam my key into the ignition, starting the car and wishing I had five minutes earlier to give it a chance to warm up. The car alarm beeps for a moment. I snap my seatbelt on, cutting the noise. The steering wheel feels like ice against my naked fingers. If I were in a […]
Pilgrims
were on the shades when I left this morning, the bitter cold biting my cheeks. Threw my voice in the wind prayed it wouldn’t come back until you come . back. They were on the shades when I left, blots of ink on white plastic peering through the slats at all the bodies I’ve collected […]
The Sound of Snowfall
I don’t see my sister enough to argue with her. Not once we became adults, anyway. Of course, like any pair of siblings (maybe any pair of sisters, so close together in age, they’re often confused for being twins) our childhood was a string of disputes. The earliest I remember was my golden-haired sister chucking […]
searchlight
Maybe if I write these words slowly, it will make them hurt less. I can’t remember what I wrote yesterday, but it had that dizzying effect that swings sometimes have: nauseating, like maybe I should have kept my feet planted on the ground. But I have always loved the idea of flying, and being on […]
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my mother wonders why I am never home and my love is never quite certain why I’ve gone mute and my sisters keep telling me they miss me and I can’t look them in the eyes anymore can’t tell fanciful and fantastic lies anymore . went to meeting today discussed plastic bags and pillow cases […]
For Pembroke
wear my bathrobe to pick Lil Cobra up from school administration asks if I’m unwell let them believe I’m diseased it’s more entertaining that way . he messaged me last night wanted to know when he would see me again I shrugged and shook my head don’t want to hear from him, really . dreamt […]
smelling salts
I’ve got the hands of a woman with nothing left to give the feet of a woman with nowhere to go, not even home— tú haces que mi corazón lata but, that’s not right either, is it? we lived in a bubble, the real world exposed to the pretend, now, I fall ill my immune […]
In the other room,
I hear my grandmother whisper, “Is she really thinking about…?” And my mother answers, “I don’t know,” exasperated, “I try to stay out of stuff like that.” And I am in my room, poetry pressing against my eyelids because it’s easier this way, easier than seeing the rain clouds. Am I really thinking about…? My […]
Just Thoughts 