sunday visit by J Mari

she says
” i’m glad you came,
there’s something for you,
a real treat”
and

drops a
packet of
old photos on my lap.

they’re all
her dead husband
and
my dead dog.

an ex,
my last thus far,
is in some of them.

the old man shot
himself in the head
on a Wednesday morning
6 years ago, and

i put my dog
to sleep
on a Thursday
afternoon
a few weeks back:

couldn’t walk anymore,
and had
water in his lungs
according to the vet.

my ex ended things
on a Sunday night
by telling me
she
was in love
with someone else

after drinking
half a bottle
of very cheap tequila.

my mother asks
do i want
to keep any and
maybe
post them on Facebook?

I say no.

she goes to the kitchen and
gets started
on the congri.

there will
be deep
-fried steak too.

I fix myself
a scotch and water and
turn on the A/C:

88 degrees of
Miami winter.

There’s one photo
where
the old man
and the dog
are asleep
in bed.

my ex
has the dog on another.

I put the
stack down
on the
living room
table next
to my mother’s bible.

A rapidly dissolving December

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