Rebecca “Big Whiskey” Mertz lives and teaches writing in Pittsburgh, PA. You may see her poems at Drunken Boat, H_NGM_N, BathHouse, and elsewhere on the internets. She smokes a lot.
My mother changed the channel during
sex
and sometimes violence till my brain
began to process the drawing together of bodies /the sharp
breathing or blade shining in the /dark/
with a speedy interruption like,
ADDITIONALLY FOR ONLY NINE NINETY FIVE or
JESUS CHRIST YOUR PERSONAL
or
SAVE NOW ON BEDROOM FURNITURE, PATIO or the sharp static of what was unpaid for
back when cable was not yet an interface
of class/the slow rush of
understanding
between the knee-caps and
my cunt/endless advertising
of surgery after
surgery