Up Up Up

By Georgia Bowan

Up up up

Loneliness has me in chokehold as I watch my family turn to butter

Shuffling their feet against the rotted floorboards of a house that my father won’t step foot in anymore

And my mother pulled me into a tomb of feathers but I didn’t want to sleep

So I cursed at her and woke up puffy eyed and ill

She said something about if I’d be okay if she died tomorrow

She said it so bluntly and I didn’t care

I couldn’t give a thought about things that have not occurred yet

So I cried about someone who may not reach out for me

Wouldn’t give a shit about me in the end

But my mother does