Spring/Summer 2015
Brittany Cagle is an MFA candidate at the University of South Florida. She works as a writing consultant, creative writing instructor, and as the nonfiction and art editor for Saw Palm: Florida Literature and Art. Her poetry has recently been nominated for the AWP 2013 Intro Journals Project. Her work has appeared in Spry Literary Journal, Sweet: A Literary Confection, Welter, Mad Swirl, This Zine Will Change Your Life, Rhetoric Matters: Language and Argument in Context, and is forthcoming in Infinite Press.
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The Ghosts in Our Drinks
We tell ourselves we’re made of steel
and then the bar shuts down,
the pool tables are concealed,
and we’re turned out into the town.
And then the bar shuts down,
counts out the cash drawer
and we’re turned out into the town.
We’re reminded of who we were before.
The bar counts out the cash drawer
and “home” is just a word to be turned away from.
We’re reminded of who we were before
and too afraid of what we’ve become.
And “home” is just a word to be turned away from.
We pretend we can’t see our lover’s breath in the cup
because we’re too afraid of what we’ve become.
We pour ourselves into the nearest pub.
We pretend we can’t see our lover’s breath in the cup.
We forget the pool tables are eventually concealed.
We pour ourselves into the nearest pub.
We tell ourselves we’re made of steel.
To view more from this author pick up a copy of
the Spring/Summer 2015 issue of The Stray Branch.