Allison Whittenberg
Watching Jordan's Fall (CW: domestic violence)
...God, I hate November
All the hope I had hoped
Against hope for Jordan.
All the hope I had hoped
Against hope for Jordan.
Dad beat Jordan, to
Straighten him out, to show
Jordan, to silence him.
Straighten him out, to show
Jordan, to silence him.
My brother lived until the next
Season, onto the next winter,
Very quiet like a fallen leaf.
Season, onto the next winter,
Very quiet like a fallen leaf.
Season's Denial
The first year it happened, I wondered will I outgrow dreaming of the dead by night and going through the motions of duty by day?
The eggnog circulated, and I know what an egg is, but what is nog?
Fun was had, or, at least, impersonated. It’s Christmas, for Christ’s sake.
Ribbons undone...
Gifts swapped...
Festive cake knifed–someone is absent.
She’s cited briefly during grace, but only then: This day is about sugar plum fairies, not protoplasm.
Day Job (CW: substance use)
After a night of therapeutic bottle and blunt passing
He wakes on earth at 5AM
In a lumpy bed
He goes to the airport in his overalls
Brandishing a handkerchief
He scrubs the thick plastic windows
With long-handled brushes
He watches the jets take off
They move hot through the endless sky
With purpose
The Shower
It’s winter.
The water runs cold
She is thinking about the blizzards
She imagined as a child
How she’d think of herself trapped
And far from home, the spring
With its gentle rain never coming,
Those summers with their nights
Of heat lightning
Court and spark...
The water runs cold
She is thinking about the blizzards
She imagined as a child
How she’d think of herself trapped
And far from home, the spring
With its gentle rain never coming,
Those summers with their nights
Of heat lightning
Court and spark...
The mind
Is
As fragile as
The dream
It dreams
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