Charles Kell

Mother’s House

There’s now a hole where the bath-
room used to be. Black mold,
water dripping covers the walls
until it’s all ripped away.

There’s now a port-a-potty in the garage.
Thick wood spider resting
in a glint of dim light.
Dark rooms; mother’s cancer, a liter

plastic bottle of Kamchatka.
December and the fan runs a soft
hum of mildew drying
green turning to lime.

My wife is soon serving me divorce papers.
My life in a shadow shrinking, broken time.

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Charles Kell is the author of Ishmael Mask, (Autumn House Press, 2023.) His first collection, Cage of Lit Glass, (Autumn House Press, 2019) was chosen by Kimiko Hahn for the 2018 Autumn House Press Poetry Prize.