The Ex-Lover Attends His Funeral

By B.A. O'Connell

Editor's Note: Due to the formatting of this work, it is best viewed on desktop.

Inside my bones

there is a sickness, is a rot,

in me a corruption—

there is a thing turned wrong and backwards

until my once

healthy heart;

it becomes maliciously devoured—

I am a foot in and a foot out

it splits me

down the middle—

white gowned funeral;

Maybe you see me there

with my skeleton making

me move all kinds of

wrong,

and I just want to mourn

like anyone else

but there is nothing here for me,

nothing to take,

nothing to give,

I become

like a collection

of exoskeletons

and rat tails that are

chewed up viscera

littering the floor

of my once home.

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B.A. O'Connell was born and raised in Lockney, Texas, alongside a family they can't tell you about, or they'd have to kill you. Find their chapbook, Sewn, Together, Anew and novella, As I Want to Remember It on Amazon. Find out more about their creative projects on their Twitter and Tumblr.