Sin Ribbon: Days We Swallowed

Photo: Joanna C. Valente

Days We Swallowed Anyway

She used to brace herself against me, deep

breaths carrying me down from a panic attack,

her small breasts filling the bowls of my

shoulder blades.                      In those after

hours, my vision would slit me awake from

dreams that painted sugarcoated films of

the night before.

And there she lay

                         leaving me searching for words

to describe the sun, to piece together the bright

burst of her eyes when they held love for

me and the longing she stowed away for what

better may come along.

                            Back then, I would stay up

recounting my feathers and what it was like

to fly. She smiles as she listens, a frown

disclosed by her reflection in the corner mirror.

But I smile back. Her mask is more

beautiful than she is.

                                                    We spend all

night tossing stories on the bed, moaning and

reminiscing each other's names. It won't last,

but we hold hands anyway.

                                            A cemetery nestled

between our ribs, each stone a monument to

the buried moments that could

have been. But weren't.

                                                Ever as she pulls

away, our fists clenching bedsheets and

tugging on what we never had,

                 she hums the lyrics of our suffering.

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Sin Ribbon is a storyteller weaving tales of encouragement and consequence through prose, paintings, and poetry. She is the author of the urban fantasy series, Ten of Destiny, and creator of the award-winning podcast, In Her Burning: A Surreal Diary. Her work has found homes with Ruminate, Barrelhouse, TERSE., Moonchild, Luna Luna, and other magazines. Her debut poetry collection, Dead Star Rituals, releases winter 2021. Find her on Instagram and Twitter via @sinribbon or at https://sinribbon.com