Breadcrumb #376

KIM DIETZ

I missed you last night
I’ve missed you every night since

We arranged the flowers on the bedside table
Lit candles that smelled of peonies and poppy
We held the funeral buried in bed
Draped ourselves in the laughing shadows
With bottom shelf whiskey tucked in beside us
Washing it all away with the starless night

I’ve missed you every night since you’ve lost
The voice in the cavern of your throat that lulled us to sleep
Like a trapped ghost in the depths of your belly
Since my sheets were last glazed with tobacco and cinnamon and honey
Tasting the breakfast you’ve made me on your lips
You resound on my palate

Like a last meal
One I was asked to choose
A bed-sheet fit as a tablecloth
A blood-orange leaking--
Sweet with thick blushed skin
Peel shedding like a borrowed mask
And I can’t seem to contain it in one place
It keeps dripping and running and weeping down my wrist
Fighting to be held so close

And I’ve missed you every night since.

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