Come to where I live, she says, there are voices cannibalizing each other on the other side of the wall and an effigy in my window—Mother Mary in plaster won at a church raffle.
Come to where I live, she says, and the lies I tell you will pool in purple and black across my flesh. The man who broke my nose will bail me out of jail, then ask you for the money.
Come to where I live, she says, I’ll walk home alone in the dark on the highway after the late shift at the fast-food restaurant. Tomorrow I’ll sleep in patterns of kittens that motif my pink sheets. I wonder if my roommates can hear me scream into my pillow.
Come to where I live, she says, and I’ll have you arrested for trespassing. I won’t tell you
I’m thinking about dying, and I know how I’ll do it. To me, there’s nothing worse than a threat. Your agony will be worth my dignity.
Come to where I live, she says. Bring quarters for the laundromat. A demon has poisoned my potted plants. I’m too sad to make it to the door, I’ve turned to concrete in my bed. A concrete woman with clothes that smell like mold. I might be hungry.
Come to where I live, she says, and we’ll drink Courvoisier till we float like clouds. Did I tell you it tastes like pears and honeysuckle and the bark of angels hidden in the baseboards? Did I tell you I got my hair braided? Did I tell you I love everyone?
Come to where I live, she says, there are two states of my being. I am sorry and grateful.
I haven’t returned your calls since Christmas, but I want you to know I love you like a comet,
a satellite, a kite fevered and orbiting.
Come to where I live, she says, I have a new man. A new job. A new room in a new house.
The neighbors love me. They give me rides and rum and feed my cats, but the turtles you gave me have rolled themselves inside their shells. I think they’re just pretending to be dead.
LAURA SOBBOTT ROSS has worked as a teacher and a writing coach for Lake County Schools in Central Florida and was named Lake County’s poet laureate. Her poems have been featured on Verse Daily and have appeared in Meridian, 32 Poems, Blackbird, Main Street Rag, National Poetry Review, and elsewhere. Ross was a finalist for the Art & Letters Poetry Prize and won the Southern Humanities Auburn Witness Poetry Prize. She’s the author of two poetry chapbooks and three full-length poetry books.
The art that appears alongside this piece is “I AM A WOMAN” by GRETA KOSHENINA.