The Beginning
He nudged her and said he was having fun,
and she smiled.
Thus began days and nights of
sparkle-eyed glass clinking, endless cigarettes,
and her twirling to tunes in the living room
while he drummed the beat on the kitchen table.
They shared their pasts, basked in the present,
and talked of a puppy dog some day,
an apartment next year,
moving to the west coast.
The Middle
He sat at the kitchen table with his legs
pretzel-folded under him,
his cigarette gesticulating to the beat
of his snarling mouth.
His words were like darts between her shoulder blades
as she cleaned the frying pan.
She had to leave,
and it was like the pain of cutting off
her own gangrenous arm to save her
self.
In ten minutes and two trips she toddled to
her car with her toiletries, stereo, and CD's
and drove away.
The End
She left him kneeling on the bathroom floor,
heaving his shame and regret into the porcelain bowl.
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