Haunt Me
written by: Sable Briar
so come back:
pierce through me with your phantom limbs
the kitchen is the way you left it
and the stove’s bottom-right burner is still stained.
the room you once slept in is trashed
but you know me
the devil, the saint, depending on your mood
if you do come back, bring the cards
the lined index ones of inside-jokes
half a mile high that we filled out
at her kitchen table.
i do not miss you, but maybe
the many memories still live
nestled like a warm animal for the winter
in a burrow of my nostalgia’s making.
if you come back, the house
still smells the same, but i rearranged my room
and i think one of your socks
is still on the carpet stairwell
buried under boxes of christmas ornaments.
i think of where you may be every now and then
just like i think of all of the friends we shared
and their disappearing acts. and their endless handkerchief-pulls of shifting moods
like colors floating in my vision.
in my dreams, i see you like a specter
spectator, even, observing me
and when i try to say something to you,
i watch you disappear
vapor of hazy animosity
that we will forever hold over one another
like a knife on a string.
i would ask you to haunt me
but i think you already do.
