now I understand
why people kill for this stuff.
the quietest
love. milk. the opposite
of a bruise
if I don’t wake up, burn
my journals. if I don’t wake up
feed my dog. if I don’t
wake up, sell
everything, buy yourself
eight hundred thousand flowers
or stand on the roof
and throw my jewels at passing trucks
that said, though they’re ridiculous
I should have written
more poems. should’ve slapped
a few people across the face.
I am gifted now to see
how things are:
a drop of blood
easily wiped off the table
and by tomorrow
never there at all.
Sera Gamble’s poetry has appeared in Washington Square, Suitcase, and Caffeine. She also writes fiction, essays, film and television; most recently, she co-created the hit TV series You and The Magicians. Sera is a first-generation American living in Los Angeles with her husband and dog.