PATRICK THORNTON

You’re always in a yellow chiffon dress

You’re always in a yellow chiffon dress

when they take you you’re almost

middle aged transparent

you take one more look back again

and again and again and

do you still talk to the moon the way you used to?

You say it’s too hard to stay with your brother

sister is afraid you’ll burn her house down

again the kids are waiting in the car

they’ll get a milkshake if they’re good

the hospital doesn’t look like

a hospital with a bowling alley in the lobby

The medical report doesn’t say what

you wore I can only

imagine a dress that would

hurt to take off your shoulders

drop to the floor

they have another gown for you

The doctor asks your opinion

an ink blot mystery

you smoke out a window say

it looks like a bug to me

it looks like someone made

a big mess for nothing

Patrick Thornton is a freelance writer and editor living in Chicago. Patrick earned an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from Columbia College Chicago and is the managing editor of Ghost Proposal. His work has previously appeared in Entropy, The Collapsar, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, and Redivider among others. More about Patrick and his work can be found here.