Member-only story
ACCEPTANCE/COMPETITION
Old Friend of Mine
A poem
Who owns the face in this photograph,
Glitching between past lives and lives paused,
Framed in a friendship, primordial and true,
Yet lasted until the invention of time.
What if I poked those dimpled smiles —
Would they smooth into abrupt endings?
And if I traced those mischievous eyes,
Would they froth with affection or lies?
Whose time was it that lay on your plate,
For you to feast and waste?
Forget those conversations, still crumbing
My carpets and staining my pillows —
Stubborn memories no bold distraction could vacuum —
Your gifts from six years past are old enough for a landfill,
But I have reverse-engineered them,
Varnished with rue,
And rendered in denial.
A red coat overdresses a bony chair,
Keeping me warm through the cold nights,
Spent with an aching spine, bent
On forgetting you.
A Magnolia perfume bottle for when I lose
My sense of you,
Speakers listening to the white noise
Of dust falling…