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EMERGENCY CONTACT

(1) I only had you when you had no one else,
and you only had me the opposite
so really there’s no way that we could have been 
a death of Dignity
where we shake hands and agree
to be buried in separate graves.
In my head we died in the kitchen, 
dancing to the song I said was my favorite—
dancing to every song,
feet crushing bone in a steady corpse rhythm.
Ashes 
	to Ashes
		to Dust.

(2) I wrote you a note: “WHAT TO DO IN CASE OF EMERGENCY”.
Emergency as in we are dead,
emergency as in you are dead and I am trying
to join you, 
emergency as in we killed each other and we are
regretting it.
Here’s what I should have written:
GIVE UP, TURN AROUND, GO HOME. 
Instead, I wrote “I love you”.

(3)And I have a dream every night,
despite all this love,
where you are fire and you are
engulfing my house in flame
and burning the breath out of my
body 
and only when I am choking on smoke are you
The ocean. 
You don’t pull me in 
Or even drown me,
but I run to you and
hold my breath.

(4)My car is a fish.
My car is a silver fish
and I am driving it into the ocean because
I don’t know it can 
hold its breath like an 
ellipses,
so I am trying to hyperventilate instead but
I am breathing you in and 
breathing you out
and getting high
instead. 

(5) When I open my mouth I’m not 
speaking 
I’m just reciting 
graffiti off your bedroom wall
under the shelf where our heads
press in the summer
upside down 
and we laugh like we didn’t write it.

(6) After all that happened, 
I thought I would remember it but 
in place of your memory I just have 
a fruit bruise,
purple and swelling until 
my body is attracting flies and 
I said I wanted cremation but 
none of you listened because you thought I was 
too afraid. 

(7) Anyways, 
I’m just calling to say I think 
things are going to be different 
without you.