BITTERSWEET
KIM BAKER
BY
There is never a good time to break up.
Something always makes you doubt yourself.
It’s Christmas.
She claims to be changing.
Your mother loves her, the way she brightens up Thanksgiving.
But her cherry eyes, green sleeves,
the way she wraps herself around everything you love
feels smothering.
So. When to say enough.
Summer is no good.
She hides inside the evergreen.
And once, at a May Day picnic,
she got so wild,
she embraced the leg of a guest.
Face it.
She’s a flirt.
Maybe you can’t just break up.
Last fall, after watching QVC,
you threatened her with a pearl-handled axe.
Kill her pretty.
Then, preserve her like so many dried vines.
You know winter is best.
She hangs around until autumn abscission.
Then, every leaf exposes her location.
The delicate yellow flowers she wears in her hair.
The coquettish red accessories.
You love her in autumn.
You release her from the tree begging you
to obliterate her with your potions,
so you bring her inside to finish dying.
See. You can’t split with this exquisite siren.
You find her more beautiful as window dressing.
Display her in all her November spectacle.
You’ve done better than break up.
You’ve tamed her.
Gyroscope Review 16-4
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