Blackbirdan online journal of literature and the artsSpring 2023  Vol. 21  No.3
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an online journal of literature and the arts
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CPR @ 2pm

I have rehearsed all of this.
The physical emotion.
I’ve closed eyes. Drowned
the room crying. I was the breathless
walls. The stress of sirens and
engine cussing residence.
I was the finger shaking the map
and the road to your house trembling.

I did not practice the neighborhood scream.
The buzzing single-wide fluorescent light.
I did not practice a blue doll left alone
face down on the living room floor.
How could I practice
no one holding you.  


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