What I Left
- What I Left
An old oak dresser bought on consignmentI couldn't squeeze into the moving van.A liberal man from Alabama firing slursinto the dizzy heart of the house,not because he's racist or has a problemwith homosexuals—just 'cause he's got the rightto language, free speech. How he'd show mehis hunting knives and the bleached skullsof boars. His cocaine. The blank threatof everything left to violate. My securitydeposit. His daily looting. My shit jobas a nostalgia peddler, editing booksthat let history shine a less grotesquelyviolent light. His revised blame. My shamefulquiet. A rusted padlock. The flooded ground. [End Page 45]
Stevie Edwards is a teaching fellow and PhD candidate in creative writing at University of North Texas. She is also senior editor in book development at YesYes Books, editor-in-chief of Muzzle Magazine, and a poetry reader for American Literary Review. She is the author of Good Grief (2012) and Humanly (2015). Her poems are published or forthcoming in Rattle, Verse Daily, Redivider, Nashville Review, The Offing, Indiana Review, The Journal, and elsewhere.
