"Cumming and Leaving" by Jessie Peitsch

Cumming and Leaving

Copenhagen, Denmark

You will remember my tapping

on your hip when in the produce

aisle at the grocery store I cannot pronounce

and laugh at the field cucumbers. You will

wander through the kid’s aisle—can’t believe

what we sell our kids. Nerf guns, water guns.

I will be leaving

in the morning so we make it good.

Six weeks worth in one shot. Yes,

that’s what it was: a shot. In the back

of my throat, my chest. My hand

on your hip. You will not see me

in six weeks, no,

it will be 16 months and I will not be

in your bed, no,

I will be cleaning

up the shrapnel still.

And you will be forking

your potatoes.

Jessie Peitsch is a writer from Vancouver, British Columbia. 9am-5pm she writes emails. 5pm-9am she writes stories. Her poetry has been published in Canadian literary magazines, including Contemporary Verse 2, and she is currently working on her first young adult novel.