The Scars Across My Thigh
written by: Peter Kaczmarczyk
So begins the cleansing ritual
I fill the washer with everything that carries the smell of sick
The odor of a cat that could no longer be bothered to lick itself
It’s snuck into everything it seems
Just as you did when you were young and played and hid
I don’t mind the hair
I may leave some on the chair you favored when I refused you my lap
Settling onto it slowly, glaring at me, caring not that I had work to do
Poems to write
My lap was yours and you’d give me a little bite as I set you aside
To make sure I didn’t forget
I’ll miss those love nibbles
I’ll miss the way you would whine and howl if not given your way
I tried to lie down and rest, after you were buried
Kept waiting for you to drape yourself across me
Or try to sit upon my head
I would curse you when you did that but now it’s a memory
One sure to become dearer as your passing grows further
Just as I’ll embrace the scars across my thigh
From when you most recently slid off my lap
Scars I grumbled at you about just a week before
I will miss you Seven but for now there is the smell
The smell that told me your time was near an end
I’d held you close so much it was in my pores and in my hair
It is time now for the cleansing, the remembering, the end
- The Scars Across My Thigh - August 1, 2025
- Three Former Lovers - December 22, 2023
