It becomes a ritual -
taking trips to the store
where I wander in search
of remnants
of you.
My cart overflows with
clean linen candles
to keep by my bedside.
Pack after pack of Top Ramen
that I’ll never eat.
Just microwave and leave out on the counter
so the smell can
stick to the walls.
Flannel pajama pants and off white
throw blankets that look like
they’d blend right in
with your couch.
Even in the presence of
the negative digits
that glare at me
every time I check
my bank account,
I can’t bring myself to stop.
It’s all I can do
to keep your body
close,
and your memory
closer.
Taylor Stuckey is an English major at Shippensburg University. Her fiction and poetry have previously been featured in 50-Word Stories and Ink In Thirds. Along with this, she has poetry forthcoming in Down in the Dirt as well as fiction forthcoming in Riggwelter.
taking trips to the store
where I wander in search
of remnants
of you.
My cart overflows with
clean linen candles
to keep by my bedside.
Pack after pack of Top Ramen
that I’ll never eat.
Just microwave and leave out on the counter
so the smell can
stick to the walls.
Flannel pajama pants and off white
throw blankets that look like
they’d blend right in
with your couch.
Even in the presence of
the negative digits
that glare at me
every time I check
my bank account,
I can’t bring myself to stop.
It’s all I can do
to keep your body
close,
and your memory
closer.
Taylor Stuckey is an English major at Shippensburg University. Her fiction and poetry have previously been featured in 50-Word Stories and Ink In Thirds. Along with this, she has poetry forthcoming in Down in the Dirt as well as fiction forthcoming in Riggwelter.
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