Wednesday, October 28, 2020

THEY CALLED HER SHITBAGS by J. Archer Avary

she was a 
giantess
towering over me at 
six feet three
maybe taller 

I was after her friend
Katie 
but Katie hooked up
with my friend 
Jonny
so the giantess and I
ended up 
together
sort of a consolation 
prize 

at a Vietnamese 
restaurant 
north of Dodge 
where we ate 
heads-on shrimp
she told me about the
car crash 
the multiple surgeries
the colostomy bag
she showed me her 
scars 
Nazca lines across
her midsection 

some punks from her 
school
taunted her
her name was Melissa
but they called her 
shitbags

I was too weak and 
fearful 
to stand up for her 
but I saw her
wince with 
inner pain

we sat on my front 
porch 
with a bathtub full of 
ice and beer 
drinking the night away 
she sat on my lap
and kissed me 
our combined weight 
broke the chair 
we tumbled to the floor
and went to bed
together
it was like climbing
an oak tree

without saying a
word 
we knew it was 
over
what an easy 
breakup
I dropped her off
at school 
the next morning 
and never saw
her again

years later I heard 
she was awarded a 
large 
cash settlement 
resulting from the 
car crash
the giantess is now 
a millionaire 

nobody 
calls her shitbags
anymore






J. Archer Avary (he/him) lives on a tiny island in the English Channel. His work has appeared in Rye Whiskey Review, The Daily Drunk, Mad Swirl, Rejection Letters, Ariel Chart, and other esteemed purveyors of poetry and short fiction. Twitter: @j_archer_avary





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