Rebecca Temerario

Replay

As I shared secrets

with the girl

who was falling

for my best friend,

she broke-off mid-sentence and said:

“I guess I was right when I said I’d die for him.”

The alcohol froze

in my veins

somewhere close to the heart

of the park I imagined we were walking by,

leaving one pair of footprints in mid-July.

It wasn’t cold enough

to drink away the thoughts of death

in winter.

Together forever,

my best friend and her sometimes lover had been getting wasted

and trying to drive across the neon blurs of light

on the highway.

And that’s how they stayed:

tangled together, mangled.

Although I tried,

I couldn’t hide

from the elixirs in my mind.

I still saw her everyday

make the same mistake

she did on earth.

And I am no exception

to the odd way life runs out

of time while you’re thinking everything is fine.