Help in the Dark Season by Jacqueline Suskin

Author:Jacqueline Suskin
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781949342222
Publisher: Write Bloody Publishing

A year later, I study the constellation

chart of Scorpio. Who gave me

this starry map pinned above my altar?

It’s a gift from his ex.

I pretend she is standing here before me.

She is naked and crying.

I cover her with sage smoke.

Then her small son appears.

I hold him in my lap and fill

his body-brain with love.

I apologize for disappearing

and absolve myself

in burning leaves, candles lit,

a circle around them for protection.

NOT HAUNTED

I thought you were in love

with your mother. I remember

a dragonfly on your brother’s lip.

I remember biting your chest

so hard I saw stars.

Instead of growing up and opening

a school together, you decided

to become a doctor and I left you

for a maniac who hopped trains.

There was never anyone

better than you, eyes like crystal,

radical breast bone, a question

always living on your tongue.

I thought you’d haunt me for years.

You became a Buddhist and I rode

my bicycle through the streets

of New Orleans to meet you

and your new girlfriend.

On the way I ripped my pants,

the cuff caught in the chain.

The three of us swam naked in the pool

and I finally stopped wanting you.

This girl was much softer than I’d ever be.

Finally far enough away from your home,

I thought about your mother’s strong

arms, her critical gaze, and realized

that I was the one most like her,

and you were not in love.

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