This Poem Is About Death

 

Donna Dallas

 

First

along the shoulder of the Belt Parkway

when my lover overdosed 

blue foam trickled down his chin

(blue because he drank eight glasses of Curacao)

 

We were on heroin and the scene was benevolent 

the ambulance lit us up

with a liquid glow of madness

as my lover cackled

when they finally resuscitated

his zombie body

 

That number one

a preemptive 

a test run

he enjoyed it to the point of silliness

number two would not be survived

 

I surrendered to rehab

to the desert

in Southern California

because I came from money 

and that’s what happens to rich kids

when they’ve gone awry

 

I said this was about death 

and it is

my recovery a snore

what irks me still 

is number two

 

It was a slow drive 

into the bay

a slow sinking

of body and car

again full dark - liquid without light

without passers-by

the water cradled him

in its murky tomb

​

       Donna Dallas has appeared in a plethora of journals, most recently Beatnik Cowboy, Horror Sleaze Trash and Fevers of the Mind.  She is the author of Death Sisters, her legacy novel, published by Alien Buddha Press. Her first chapbook, Smoke and Mirrors, launched in 2022 with New York Quarterly. Her second chapbook, Megalodon, launched in 2023 with The Opiate. Donna has served on the editorial team of Red Fez and NYQ.