Dixie cups on a lace placemat
- Charlie Rivera-Gu
- May 24
- 1 min read
We took turns sharing a spoonful of sugar laced with venom
As it seeped into our bodies like ravines scourging pure earth
Like the sound of cannons firing into the distance
Our arms outstretched — reaching for ourselves and each other
Reaching for a feeling or just a moment of indulgence
I cannot remember.
In your father’s backyard where summers were wet and scorching on my back
You traced poetry in thin red lines
And scars leading from my tongue to my throat and then my breasts
In that heat I puffed my first cigarette
Rolling it between my fingers,
Holding onto loathsome atmospheres
Of the things I could not say
The sour taste of poison
Trickling in just as you did
Just like you showed me
with Pocky sticks.
about the author
Charlie Rivera-Gu, inspired by the verses of a certain NC Youth Poet Laureate wrote this.
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