Navigating the Divorce

Damages

Damages

Johanna M. Vining

soap decaying in the shower past three weeks

possibly not to be removed until

until

bubble bath and it sits inches from eyeballs

fleck of flesh and those tiny hairs

once pressed to my skin. This skin, once yours.

cracks forming, always with the cracks forming

this decay – slimy, then flaking dry

coating the side of the shower, but only until

until there is nothing left but residue –

white, chalky substance on the fingers

impossible to clear off the heart.