Your lessons in abandonment
have finally come into use
as I forget each day
to water the sweetpea
hanging from the tree
and watch it crisp
beneath the sun’s heat,
yellowing like teeth.
I wonder if you did this too
every time you dug your heels
in deep and saw her
before me,
refusing to see blood as enough
no matter how many times
I spat it back up.
Photograph & poem: © Kristiana Reed 2019
Available internationally
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