I sat across from him,
shooting his portrait with my phone.
His charcoal sweatshirt faded
into the dark booth.
He played tic-tac-toe
in the dim light.
I should have known
something was wrong,
when he scribbled his X’s and O’s
like a toddler—
should have known
his brain’s weak vessels
were bleeding again.
Should have put down the phone
and looked him in the eye.
Should have noticed
his half-eaten ice cream
melting in the bowl.
Previously published at Pittsburgh Poetry Review, Fall 2017.
Header photograph © Charlotte Hamrick.
Chanel Brenner is the author of Vanilla Milk: a memoir told in poems, (Silver Birch Press, 2014), a finalist for the 2016 Independent Book Awards and honorable mention in the 2014 Eric Hoffer awards. Her poems have appeared in New Ohio Review, Poet Lore, Rattle, Muzzle Magazine, Pittsburgh Poetry Review, Barrow Street, Salamander, and others. Her poem, “July 28th, 2012” won first prize in The Write Place At the Write Time’s contest, judged by Ellen Bass.
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