making love remember the tonics and sins...

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making love remember the tonics and sins

just down the street 
was where she hid 
in place 
all the flavors  
and traumas 
of her childhood

she wanted me 
to help her bury these 
old apothecary bottles 
behind the lattice wood and 
newspaper insulation 

the sub-wall was exposed
would I help her put up 
a new dry wall then 
spackle, tape and paint 
the bottles behind it 

would I make it look like 
no one could notice 
how full under the skin
she was of what she emptied 
into that dusty glass
cork and wax sealed
her potions and elixirs
what had fixed her 
forever stealing into pain 
to pause it 
to place handles upon it
to still it 
to kill it 
or at least know 
where it finally hid
the slow burn 
of her living tomb

the old saltbox house 
was a farmhands 
from long ago 
it was where 
she grew up 
and remained 

she went to great lengths 
not to show what had been 
inside this house and her
near enough ago 
for her to long 
for it to be gone from view 


EJR ©