[lineate]Fridays he doesn’t show up at home [/lineate]
[lineate]after work a lit cigarette falls from his mouth [/lineate]
[lineate indent=12]to the living room couch [/lineate]
[lineate indent=12]as he slips into sleep [/lineate]
[lineate]she cooks dinner, [/lineate]
[lineate]her stomach pinned by anger [/lineate]
[lineate indent=3]and somewhere [/lineate]
[lineate]my father cashes his paycheck [/lineate]
[lineate]for a bottle of whiskey embers soak through the tweed [/lineate] [lineate indent=10.5]a slashed wound in the cushion [/lineate]
[lineate indent=14]opens a sink-hole for heat [/lineate]
[lineate]when my brother and I fall asleep [/lineate]
[lineate]she watches the clock’s hands tick [/lineate]
[lineate]slowly across the landscape of its face they multiply [/lineate]
[lineate indent=14.5]form an army [/lineate]
[lineate indent=14]lined across the foam [/lineate]
[lineate]he gets home and doesn’t let the door [/lineate]
[lineate]slap shut behind him [/lineate]
[lineate]but the screen whines [/lineate]
[lineate]against the quiet of the house and the cushions snap into flames [/lineate]
[lineate]he goes downstairs drunk wanting to be left [/lineate]
[lineate]alone to finish his bottle [/lineate]
[lineate]in the flicker of television [/lineate]
[lineate]but she follows him [/lineate]
[lineate]asks where he’s been as flames climb up the curtains in a hush [/lineate]
[lineate indent=12]spent fabric ashes to the floor [/lineate]
[lineate]sitting on the couch eyes closed [/lineate]
[lineate]he doesn’t answer as wallpaper pulls itself free [/lineate]
[lineate indent=10.5]curls into the face of the fire [/lineate]
[lineate]she starts screaming worthless sonofabitch [/lineate]
[lineate]you ruined my life I wish you would die French doors explode [/lineate]
[lineate indent=14]smoke-coated glass fills the air [/lineate]
[lineate indent=14]crashes to the charring floorboards [/lineate]
~ Chelsey Harris
Chelsey Harris is currently in the MFA program at Southern Illinois University. Her work has appeared in Dressing Room Poetry Journal and Cooper Street, and is forthcoming in ‘Hope Grows Here: Stories of Resilience from Survivors of Domestic Abuse.’