CL Bledsoe
Escape Plan
Don’t ask me to say the word August
unless you’ve got an escape plan.
Outside the window, it’s all center-stagers
drowning in the nonchalance
of development. Concrete is another
way of saying the only love is fear.
Maybe you’re not giving it a chance.
Blood on the upper lip shows they haven’t
forgotten their faith. Really, tell me
what else anyone has to offer that’s better
than the sewer? Does God channel
fresh water? Does love prevent
cholera? This is the hard truth no one
wants to admit. If it would stop
raining, I’d order delivery.
CL Bledsoe is the author of the poetry collection Trashcans in Love (Ghoti Fish Press, 2017). His latest short story collection is The Shower Fixture Played the Blues (Ghoti Fish Press, 2019). His latest novel is The Funny Thing About… (Spuyten Duyvil Publishing, 2018). Bledsoe lives in northern Virginia with his daughter and blogs, with Michael Gushue, at How To Even….
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