“I am a long swill of Midwestern summer”

Cassidy MacArthur

I am a long swill of Midwestern summer

 and, I am dark deer collision in frigid morning,
 I am the dust kicked up by the car as we left the farm behind us.
 I am blue in the face during birth, not quite ready to face breath yet,
 and I am throwing away the rocks in my pockets and shoes as I stare
 into the sea and decide to walk back home. I’ve seen enough.
 I’ve been enough.
 I’ve been on the kitchen floor, muffling sound in tile.
 I’ve been up on the rock, watching the ships come in, watching color
 dull as I grow older.
 I have been a heart attack for 13 years,
 my life unspooling and tangling in my hair.
 I am terror, didactic and punishing, holding my head in place as the
 fire
 eats away at my garage. I am death,
 I am dying,
 I am sleeping and quiet and dead in my bed already. 

One Comment

  1. janelle hillier

    i love this poem and i hope to see more from Cassidy MacArthur!

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