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This writing was accepted for publication in the 108 page perfect-bound ISSN# / ISBN# issue/book “Gone Fishing” Down in the Dirt, v173 (the July 2020 Issue) Order the paperback book:

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He always loved me most when I was cruel.

Caitlin McCarthy

When my head was tipped back,
cigarette clamped between my teeth
and lungs filled with thick smoke.

When I spent my nights learning
new lips and thrusting my
hips against other men.

When my breath smelt
of whiskey and my words
were coated with necrotic venom.

When I snared a grape
and popped it like
a blood vessel, a dislocated
shoulder, a broken promise.

When I remained in his life,
a thorn in his palm
that he couldn’t yank free despite
his desperate digging.

When I dug crescents into his skin
with dirt beneath my fingernails,
leaving cuts infected
and crusted with blood.

When I left his flesh
a purple and blue Jackson Pollock,
large clusters of nebulae
decorating his neck.

The day I baked him cookies he left.

 

Published previously in HUMID (2017).

Copyright of written pieces remain with the author, who has allowed it to be shown through Scars Publications and Design.Web site © Scars Publications and Design. All rights reserved. No material may be reprinted without express permission from the author.

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