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Apr 2021 · 230
Resentment
Amanda Cherry Apr 2021
You can dethread it
In therapy
Or manic
Dear-diary poetry.
You can bury it
In addiction buffet
Or schedule mania.
You can ransom it
To self-help
Smorgasbord.
What works?
That tunneling tick.
That life thief.
Apr 2021 · 103
An Honest Poem
Amanda Cherry Apr 2021
How do I write
An honest poem
Without laying waste
To everyone I love?

Maybe this
Is my way
Of telling them all
The truth

When dinner is
Soundtracked
By fork tines

And we all say
The same
Things over
And over.

I want to tell you
I’m tired
Of tip-toeing
Your addictions
Your nuances
Your creaky
Hearts.

And when you
Arrive
Shaky full
Of all the
Hysteria
You didn’t
Off-gas

Yesterday
Last month
Three years ago
As an discounted
Worker
As a
Mishandled
Wife
As a
Unseen
Little boy

My teeth
Are mobilizing.

I want to tell you
I can’t speak
To you
About anything
Real.
I can’t even
Say the words
You hurt me.

If that song
Is playing in your head
And you’re wondering
If this poem
Is about you,
It is.

I know I hurt you too.
When I couldn’t write
A love poem.
Apr 2021 · 87
Touch
Amanda Cherry Apr 2021
Sometimes
He touches
Me like
I’m his child,
Instead of his
Lover,
A finger
Under
My chin
A slick nail
Against my
Cheek.
It unnerves
Me like a
Loose thread
Around my
Toes.

Sometimes
He slaps
The curve
Of my back.
I swear
A cleaved
Nerve or  
Slithering
Disk
Must hold
Right there
The way
His hello
Makes me
Close my eyes.
But I see
My sister’s spine
Arch too.

Sometimes
She goes in
For a hug
So wide
You could park
An RV
In there
So loath
I wonder if
I smell.
To think
There was
A time
I knew
Her heartbeat
From the inside.

Sometimes
He pokes
His little finger
In my belly
Button
Retracing
Our severed
Union
A intrusion
Of the center
Of the universe
Where every
Sign post
Says
Turn around.

We are all
In such a
Contact
Drought
There’s no
Reason
I should be
Resisting
Still
Sometimes
I want you
To touch
Me
Differently.

— The End —