XENITH

Between Ourselves
by Jenifer Wills

To spite the pills
which make me
well, sometimes I ride
the rawness like a bull.
I’m stylish
in slow motion,
leather chaps,
back arched
right arm raised.

Come weekends,
I wield a shield against
komodo dragons
vomiting their bile
to shrivel
my heart
and extinguish
the rabid fire of life
I feed with costly foreign
fossil fuels like love
and unhealthy infatuation.

And loneliness
is a whore
I tossed out of my home
a long time ago
but fuck me
if I can’t keep her
from sitting
just outside my door
calm and cross
legged watching
me with large brown
benevolent eyes
while she hand rolls
cigarettes and plays
a mandolin, but never
speaks a goddamned
motherfucking word.

***
Jenifer Wills is a mother of four and poet living in Portland, Oregon. She is also the co-owner and administrator of LiteraryMary.com.