The man I knew is long gone. He can
no longer hold his liquor. I spent
so much time cowering from his voice.
He never knew what to do with me. Now,
I don’t know what to do with him. Swelling
feet and crossword puzzles filled in from
yesterday’s paper. Heart scaling down.
Around-the-clock nurses until the money
runs out. I left a long time ago with no
intention of coming back. If you’re begging
for scraps, you’ve eventually got to learn
how to starve. Which just means someone
else has to do the work of dying. Funerals
are a great place to make amends

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CL Bledsoe is the author of more than 40 books, including his latest poetry collection Banana for Scale and his latest novel Happy Forever!!