By Emma Wynn

My mother-in-law is upside down ⠀⠀⠀⠀in the dumpster
rooting, somewhere ⠀⠀⠀⠀under the urine-soaked towels
and splintered wood there is a magazine ⠀⠀⠀⠀she hasn’t read
a stained jacket three sizes too small ⠀⠀⠀⠀she knows
she’ll wear again ⠀⠀⠀⠀my partner and I have flown cross-country
to shake mouse droppings ⠀⠀⠀⠀out of her blankets
scrape dirt off the floors ⠀⠀⠀⠀with a putty knife, trash
the medicine tubes ⠀⠀⠀⠀expired before I was born
there’s only one twin bed for us to share ⠀⠀⠀⠀no real food
in the fridge just chutneys on every shelf ⠀⠀⠀⠀every room
a warren of narrow passages ⠀⠀⠀⠀walled with books
about to avalanche ⠀⠀⠀⠀and bury the dogs
barreling in and out ⠀⠀⠀⠀the broken doors
the L.A. dust sifts in everywhere ⠀⠀⠀⠀as if the desert
wants to erase us, she says ⠀⠀⠀⠀I want to take everything beautiful
from her ⠀⠀⠀⠀her son, her broken antiques, the organ
in the living room she can’t play ⠀⠀⠀⠀your mind, she says is
a narrow room ⠀⠀⠀⠀shuttered and cold, an artist
would see ⠀⠀⠀⠀how the room of old newspapers
is only waiting to unfold ⠀⠀⠀⠀into a flock of birds and lift off
through the hole in the roof ⠀⠀⠀⠀I see her dying in a fire
and haul them in stacks to the curb ⠀⠀⠀⠀where she’s dumpster-diving
for the treasures she’s lost ⠀⠀⠀⠀my partner staggers down the path
with another load ⠀⠀⠀⠀sneezing black mucus
and spitting grit ⠀⠀⠀⠀and I need them
to set everything down ⠀⠀⠀⠀give me just a breath, see
we’re the precious rubbish ⠀⠀⠀⠀that has been here all along

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Emma Wynn (they/them) teaches Philosophy, LGBTQI+ U.S. History, and Psychology at a boarding high school in Connecticut. They have been published in multiple magazines and journals and nominated for the Pushcart Prize twice. Their first full-length book, The World is Our Anchor was published in 2023 by FutureCycle Press.