Blood Comes from Somewhere

Richie Magnia

(USA)

Is he mourning?

waiting?

Are his eyes as tearful as you pictured?

Are they fearful
of the world to come without you?

I’m sure he’d love to hear from you.

Tell him.
Tell him.
Tell him.

About your new job, your new shirt, how your boyfriend is doing, that you’re sorry.

Put your cup on the table and ask for a refill,
just as he did.
Watch him pretend to brush the cup on accident
porcelain splatter to the tile floor.
Call him crazy,
deranged,
unstable,
under the influence,
warped,
Young.
Tell him to watch his tone.
Don’t speak to your mother that way.
Don’t speak to your father that way.
Don’t look at me. I’m tired of being in the middle.

Was it all just a waste?

Hello?
Did you
Did you change your number?
Does this number still work?

He’s left things behind at home he’ll never see again.

I can see you reading my texts.
Can you call me?
Don’t be ridiculous.

He’s left things behind he knows he’ll never feel there again.

Miss you.

He’s finding things he would have never found under his bed.

Congratulations! Miss you!

He’s hearing things you never said, just to soothe himself to sleep.

Miss you.
Miss you.

Miss you.

Miss you.

He must be a child.

Miss you.

Just not yours.

Download:

Richie Magnia

is a

Guest Contributor for Panorama.

Richie Magnia-Rohrig is a recent graduate from the University of North Texas. His work has been featured in the North Texas Review (where he served as Assistant Poetry Editor and Online Editor), Mantis, The Words Faire, and more. Greatly focusing on estrangement, masculinity, and guilt, he explores how these bleed into one another.

Loading...
<

Reflections: I Am the Quiet I Keep

Reflections I Am the Quiet I KeepIn Kolkata, heat arrived as silence, thick, smothering. The days clung to us, draped like ...

Further Posts

>

Explore: All authors

Explore all authors ...

Pin It on Pinterest