The night you called, begging
for cash, you revealed all
mom’s hiding spots: a box
of calcium chews above the microwave,
a corked jar marked Unconditional Love,
between the pages of Flannery O’Connor’s
A Good Man is Hard to Find.
It was for a friend, you said.
I stole $40 from her and ran
to the mailbox – cocooned
it in a letter I pretended you would read.
Soon I learned exactly how much
you would do for that friend.
The best grades of your college career
came the semester you told all your teachers
mom had died.
And she did a little.
MEGAN FALLEY is the author of two books of poetry, published by Write Bloody Press: After the Witch Hunt (2012) and Redhead and the Slaughter King (2014). She performed on TV One’s “Verses & Flow,” and her work has been celebrated on UpWorthy.Com. She lives in Brooklyn with a dog names Taco.
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