Butter’s scent

drifting

on a heated gust from a ceiling vent

in an always-empty

K-Mart food court.

A line of glossy magazines

flaunting the hottest tech:

a flat screen TV

that wasn’t all that flat,

a Nintendo Wii

perfect for the whole family,

a Bluetooth piece

worn like a digital earring.

Above a plastic bag,

sticky fingers wrapped around

a pack of Pokemon cards,

$2.99,

denied at the last second...

Betrayal ran deep in our

makeshift, made-up, mockery

of a found family,

so much so that

we proudly bore it on t-shirts

for all to see.

It was

my misunderstanding

that our toxicity was surface-level—

that it was never more than a joke,

and that we’d never truly

watch each other bleed.

Yet,

I sat at my computer screen,

your unrelenting harassment in my ears,

watching our friendship seep down my ar...

your words

gold-plated and gangrenous

somehow always find their mark

rooted deep

inside the vessels

of my half-rotted heart...

You sat passenger

while we traveled backward through time,

passing places I only recalled

in memories old enough to drive.

We jerked forward

with each hesitant press of the brakes

accompanied by a hasty summary

of some half-remembered story

that resurfaced for a second

and faded in the next.

A park where

my dad and I

shot free throws and played catch.

A remodeled school where

I learned about t...

You.

You stared into the sky

as if a shallow “amen”

could pluck me from the rooftop

and carry me on a gentle breeze

down to you.

But,

such is life

that wishes and dreams

are best told in storybooks,

not

shouted from ten stories down.

So,

your words,

with questionable sincerity,

distantly droned in my ears

among the whips and whooshes

of passing gusts,

those that dared

to finally bring me peace.

...

My tears sizzled on my cheeks

and evaporated into the air

thick with words unspoken.

I clenched my jaw

like all the things I couldn’t say

would scorch my face

if they escaped on a careless breath.

I bit my tongue so hard

that my mouth burned

with the taste of copper,

the two cents I wanted to give

boiling at my teeth.

I parted my lips

ready to spit lava in your direction

if only to let off some...

The office was slow on Friday,

so Saturday we joined a war.

The CEO and HR were arguing

over who got to print money

in the break room,

but both knew that there’s profit in war,

so they marched us unwillingly

into business not our own

to plug the holes in a sinking ship

with our bodies.

They said peace is born from battle,

but doesn’t it sound strange to say

we have to search and destroy

to progr...

We used to play MX Unleashed on my PS2

sitting on the floor in my living room

on rainy days, mostly, when we couldn’t

mimic the dirt bikes in the game

with the bicycle your mom bought

and the bicycle my mom thrifted.

Money was tight so we had to

move away,

and I don’t think I’ve seen you since

that last day we played my PS2.

But I didn’t know it would be the last day

because we swore that

despit...

You struggled with the bread tie, spinning the loaf in circles until the plastic split in two and fell beside the counter, where an unsuspecting pet would inevitably eat it. You pulled the bread from the bag and slid it into the toaster, then pushed down on the handle until it locked with a soft click. The timer was broken, but you would stay to watch it cook.

I sat alone in the living room, star...

Fingers trembling on a timid trigger

ready to aim,

ready to fire.

Eyes closing on a sacred vow

ready to shatter,

ready to fire.

A lifetime flashing before scarred eyes

ready to surrender,

ready to fire.

Family weeping over faded photos,

not ready to mourn,

ready to—

Dread burning in unanswered calls

not ready to talk,

ready to—

Tears raining into an open casket

not ready to go,

ready to-

Fe...