Jen Gayda Gupta

The most intimate thing in the world

is knowing
you are going to watch
someone die,
watch the blood
drain from each hair
till the whole colony
bone whites.
Watch skin
tuck into crevices
of flesh that grow
tired of stretching taut.
Watch their back
twist towards earth,
run slow to a crawl,
knees pop like
crushed acorns.
Watch their teeth
lose hold, drop
one by one, resin
replaced till they sleep
gummy mouthed.
Watch their brain
blur, your face
become static till
you both forget
the nights you lay,
skin plump,
skull generous forest,
pictured aging
bodies, knew you would
hold them like this.

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Jen Gayda Gupta is a teacher, an avid hiker and a horse lover. She is currently on the run from responsibility, living nowhere at all with her husband and their dog. Her work has been published in Anti-Heroin Chic, Bandit Fiction, Capsule Stories, Olney, Sledgehammer and others. You can find her on Instagram @jengaydagupta.