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From The Editor-In-Chief
An Interview With t.k.splake
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EVERY TIME THE PHONE
Now,
every time the phone
rings
she lunges
as if it might
be possible to
reach back
to that day
she was too
busy
to answer the phone
because it might have been
one of her needy friends
needing to chat
about
something unimportant
like
how much it hurts
to breathe
when you push
a handgun straight
up your
nose.
DOOR
You were the locked closet
door,
while I listened
from inside, hidden
behind musty woolen coats,
wearing only a
nightgown with long
sleeves and one
button holding it
together.
You wanted me to remain
the little girl, with
a sweetness tied back
into a thick pony
tail, but all I
could see was the
shadows behind too many
frowns
and all I could
think about was,
I'll do
anything
to escape from
here.
Biopsy
Telling myself there is no reason to be nervous
I pee three times before the nurse calls
simple things like wrapping my chilled skin
with paper rustle rip robe and I am just
slipping my arms into tearing slitted sleeves
the knock bangs the door open and before I have
time to object her kind and soothing smile slides
out of view a sharpness between my legs spread
stiffly open by the voice between them
"Can you feel anything?" her words smear together
a crack in the ceiling and what looks like but
couldn't possibly be blood up there I
must focus on something other than Cancer what if
and what about children "Got it!" she announces
her retrieval like a baseball player catching a
pop fly she tells me the worst is over relax
forget about it no sex for at least three days
I'll call you when you stop bleeding you are free
to leave and before I have time to object
she reminds me to leave the door open and
suddenly I have to pee again as I check for blood
I try to imagine the weight of a child in my arms.
PAPER BURNS
If
paper burns
but memories fade,
and the sun fades paper
and diminishes the color
of a leaf and I burn
with desire, why
is it my skin
does not pale
over time in the sun,
but burns--not a flame-- but
just to a glowing burning
pink?
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