Lights flashing, sickening,
The smell of other bottles’
Contents reproduced
From someone’s mouth
Right onto the floor.

I remember the first sip,
The lips like acid
Against my mouth,
Kissing away my life.
Teeth clinking against
Me like a bad lover’s.

I remember the hands
That held me, firmly
In the air, spilling
My lifeblood out.
Dizzying, drunk

I can’t see.

I remember the screaming,
Yelling, foul words
Reverberating through glass
Like ripples on water;
Bubbling me,
Foam, spilling.

I remember the chair.
White hot pain
As I shatter, beer
Spilling onto the floor
Not from a mouth this time,
But from me.

I remember the blood
Soaking my edges,
Screaming, dripping,
Wet.

I never asked for this.

I remember being ripped
From the hands,
Cast to the side,
Stomped, stabbed,
Slipped on.

Here I lay
Searching for my pieces,
Wondering, waiting,
Wanting,
To be picked up again.

 

Britney Buterbaugh is a communications major. Her photo “Cimetiere” appeared in last year’s issue, and this year her work won Best Photo and Best Poem. She runs a small photography business.