Today's offering: "It is not your fault" by Madison Flanders.

“It is not your fault”

I heard my name

Being carved into

Your memory for the first time

Imagining how slippery your voice would become

Tasting each letter

While my pinky nibbled yours

The way my parents both savored bitterness

My dad in his scotch

My mom in the word

Alcoholic.

You were the embodiment

Of my third grade fantasy                 

The one that ripped the white veil

Off my head

And made me want to

Sew red flags on to my sleeves

Dusted in the incantation

Of divorce.

I began to crave you

Like the cigarette

I had to sneak

During Sunday service

Like the sadness

That sucks at my tonsils.