Cover of Tangled Coils (Finalist, Who Freaking Cares Writing Contest for Poetic Rejects)

Tangled Coils (Finalist, Who Freaking Cares Writing Contest for Poetic Rejects)

waiting for the water to boil is when

I recall the best and worst of it. mesh

cloth draped over everything. your laugh

like a crooked exit sign in neon red.

I regret so many things I never even did

because I could have, right? and isn’t that,

after all, the same thing? the bruises

on my elbow are turning yellow and

I’ve done nothing with my life since

September. I see every bit of you

but only through broken glass. I’ve left

my hand resting too close to the burner

again and the water is boiling over. I watch it

pour through my fingers. I don’t feel a thing.