Two Poems by Cassandra Dallett

Afterwrath

Now

it’s me
who zooms out into dark nights
headlights music and heels
clackety clack down the stairs
messages
whistle into my inbox
It’s me
who stays up too late
half bottle by the bed
wet towels on the floor
the lock twisted
in a closed bedroom door
I’m hungover
moving almost fast enough
to outrun exhaustion
and my old back pain
perpetually plotting
my next move.

The rain finally came

 

took forever
a low grey hangover
to get warm I’m wearing a bathrobe
over my skinny jeans
sobbed at you before you left
blamed you
for the expensive abortion pills
for the brief moments
you stole inside me
my back to you
wanting only a massage
and a hot pack
after work
having told you
a long time ago
that
us
was over.

Cassandra Dallett occupies Oakland, CA. Cassandra writes of a counter culture childhood in Vermont and her ongoing adolescence in the San Francisco Bay Area. She has published in Slip Stream, Sparkle and Blink, Hip Mama, The Chiron Review, Bleed Me A River, Ascent Aspirations, Criminal Class Review, Enizagam, The Delinquent and The Milvia Street Journal among many others. Look for links and chapbooks on cassandradallett.com