Abigail Eckstine - Stained

I have been staining her old sweater white and red,

Pouring drops upon it like a multitude of lacerations.

An oil spill like the words I never got to say,

This feels like retribution.

Sometimes she hums in my head like a spider,

Sometimes I am dazed and wonder how we were so blind,

Tearing at each other’s throats when love turned anger,

One day we simply stopped talking.

I have been eating her favorite food.

Savoring taste without guilt.

Fruits no longer blended with decay,

This feels like picking up the pieces - and saving them for another day.

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ABIGAIL ECKSTINE (They/She) is a 25-year-old queer writer of novels and poetry, parent-to-be and the founder of Cauldron Anthology. Most recently they have been published in Catatonic Daughters and Alternate Route. You can find them on Twitter @whimsywriter3.