Week-long Short Series: Poem 1 by Ashley Quinn

I’m tired of trying to drown you
In the gin in my throat
Of you using any available footholds,
To your advantage, repeatedly
Scraping the sides of my esophagus,
The friction feeding a fire in my trachea
Left unsmothered.
​
I’m tired of trying to smoke you out
Of my lungs with
A murderer of brain cells
Innocent, third-party casualties
As I search for my cure,
For my light,
At Montauk Point.