I Was Going to Kill Him by Ashley Polley

         
         
          I Was Going to Kill Him
         
          Even left an extra place
          At the table just so he

          Could see his ghost. I stared
          At him while he ate with his favorite

          Fork. The one he said that had God
          Coasting through the aluminum.

          But then I felt with lips pressed
          To vein—He was faking death.

          He leaned forward to sing his hymns backwards
          As I began to scrub the dishes. My teeth

          Collided into the kitchen sink, only to create
          The most miserable of melodies. 

          Oh, the shaken falsetto of my dreams.

          _____________
          Ashley Polley

                                                                                                                                                           

                                  
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