Home Remedies
       

First;
            I will weave heartache into a blanket

            the way my mother taught me, white knuckled,

            catching it on hooks held between browning fingers.

            When it is done I will wear it as a shawl when I am out,

            at night lay it down on the vacant side of the bed

            and wake tangled in it and suffocating.

Next;

            I will unlearn my manners. Rub sand paper

            and salt along the skin that had been kissed

            and caressed soft, grow the callouses back

            in my voice and nip the word sweetheart

            off of my tongue. I will call you once before dawn

            to tell you I was never sweet, but all you will hear

            is blood and breath, and the final click of bones

            resetting into a primal shape.

Finally;

            I will brew coffee without a filter; black and bitter

            thick like the soil after thunderstorms. I will curl my fingers

            around the cup and let it burn my palm. I will let its steam

            sting in my eyes. I will read our future by flicking ash

            off the end of my cigarette into the mug.

            I will watch it sink. I will watch it dissolve.

            I will watch it turn into nothing at all.

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Copyright © 2020 Couri Johnson All rights reserved
from Rock & Sling
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission