Major Picaresque Episode

It comes in rubbing

alcohol and the pair of shoes you

should have deleted the emails but what’s

the use if you can’t block the person who

fed the worms will come back.

When you came

home you

were alone when you were born but your mother

was sucked

dry when

she fed the worms will come back.

You snuck sweets into your

room is nondescript

and you’re not sure

it belongs where you are now

you’re killing a spider with the spine of

a life is sacred but you

were scared

the worms will come back.

So you don’t have to worry

about saying it

aloud if you can’t bring yourself

to think the words will come back.

It shifts when you leave the

room is never left behind

like when you were a dog off its leash

running up for praise when

it brings you the worms will come back.

There’s a bag

of rotting lettuce

you need to eat if you want to get strong

and dainty

like you were in the seventeenth birthday photos you

should have thrown out with your food waste

before the smell

attracted the worms will come back.

Do you remember how you

didn’t speak for a year

you had no one

to think you could call

when things get bad you can always

reach out but

a shout means the worms will come back.

Your plant is dying because you haven’t fed the worms will come back.

You had your cake

for dinner but you haven’t eaten

the old shoes you lost

your phone when your mother

video-calls to remind you to

eat your lettuce

first the worms will come back.

You can find a recorded version of this poem at: Purple Radio Spotify

Illustrated by Talia Jacobs