—musty smell
a ball of bloody underpants
under her bed
cigarette butts in a jam jar
a half empty bottle of gin
wrapped in an old wool sweater
two tins of spearmint Tic Tacs
the pearl earrings my mother
lost last week
a DO NOT READ UNDER PENALTY
OF DEATH diary
rows of Leslie Richards
followed by rows of Leslie Fisher
& rows of Leslie Pearson
in slanted pink script
a dog-eared copy of Peyton Place
untie the top of your bathing suit
a condom curled in her wallet
I tiptoe away from tomorrow—
Claire Scott is an award winning poet who has received multiple Pushcart Prize nominations. Her work has been accepted by the Atlanta Review, Bellevue Literary Review, New Ohio Review, Enizagam and Healing Muse among others. Claire is the author of Waiting to be Called and Until I Couldn’t. She is the co-author of Unfolding in Light: A Sisters’ Journey in Photography and Poetry.
