Page 31 - WDickinson_Blackwell_Submission
P. 31

The shower drain clogs with thin, auburn hair,
                          Accumulating into Cousin Itt, you say. We laugh it off.
                   I watch the flow of steam rising,
                          kissing naked skin.

                          When you make a calculation, you must
                          make assumptions. We say, Cancer.
                          They assume us to be wrong. We know
                          we are.

                                                (Some assumptions are better than others.)

                          When you get an answer,
                          you must state your biases.

                                                (The stigmatization
                                                surrounding
                                                our particular system.)

                   Your tie your favorite running shoes together, place them
                          at the foot of the closet. So they can be together for all time, you joke,
                                 because you will no longer need them.
                   I hug you tighter to my chest, carrying you
                          from room to room. You have shrunken inward,
                                 so much so that people do not mistake us
                                 for brothers anymore.

                   You put your favorite sweaters in that brown box
                          our TV was shipped in two years ago.
                                 You were so excited, saying we were going to
                                                watch movies every night.

                                         Forgive me
                                                for the ones I will watch in 6 months.

                                                (The transport of a constituent
                                                generally does not cease, even when the source itself
                                                is depleted.)








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