a cigarette

swallowed you whole

ate your cervix up,

stole the cartilage;

how he loved you head over heels

and i was palpable defiance.

when your cancer went into remission,

i no longer thought of you in the way that i once did

just a body.

i assumed your disease took you with it.

i will drag you down under with me and

we will learn how to conceal the

feeling of drowning.

12