Estranger
Maman died tomorrow
or yesterday maybe
i can’t seem to forget
how these things happen
always fearing i’ll see her
everywhere i don’t go
in blinks between glances
i’ve been seeing someone
at the movies: her head
floating up on the screen
on the beach: her body
washing up on the shore
in my arms: her absence
making its presence known
if i had a choice i wouldn’t
go to her funeral again
Tyler Barney is a copywriter and freelance journalist based in Jacksonville, Florida. His writing has appeared in Orlando Weekly and online at CVLT Nation, Perversion Magazine, and Vocal. Tyler’s first chapbook, Days on End, was published by Popnihil in 2016, and his forthcoming novelette, Unclean, is currently in Submittable purgatory.
Other Works
A Story That Starts With Waking Up From a Dream
by Aaron Burch
... You wake up / and your nose is covered in hair. // You check yourself over, head to toe, / and that’s it, only your nose ...
Exorcising the Elephant
by Riayn Spaero
... Sinew and nerve // store memory—like the bruised / mattress her mother’s mother stuffs / with portraits ...