Rhiannon Thorne’s most recent poem to appear here was I Took to Howling With You (October 2012).

Jackie
By Rhiannon Thorne

Jackie,
I don’t think you were listening
when I told you we were
quit smoking
last week,

and there’s blood and broken ceramic
on the porch that my ankle
does not want to explain

and my hands
shake at the thought of washing.

You’re a bitch, if I must come
straight out and say it. A lying,
snarling woman. A raging,
broken thing. But,

I’ll forgive you, Jackie,
for the stains on the sheets
and seeing the end
at the bottom of the bottle.
Hell, I’ll even forgive you
for filling the tub and
trying to sleep.

But how dare you,
HOW DARE YOU,
tell him when I
was no longer there
to speak

that the both of us
hate him?

Bitch.