Why You Won’t be Getting a Refund
Thanks for leaving
my rental house
trashed with your emotions.
You can’t have any of your
security deposit back.
Those many ersatz moments
when you mentioned loving me
will all count as damages.
I’ve kept track of each one,
in case you want
an itemized report.
The carpet cleaning bill
from your meltdowns
was bad enough,
but then you put your fist
through my window,
jumped into the yard
and took off running
before I could catch you
and hold you accountable.
Rest assured; I’ll make sure
I find you, even without
a forwarding address.
Meanwhile, I’ll take comfort
in knowing your reputation’s so poor
that even the landladies
in your hometown
would rather see you starve
then ever rent to you again.
Lullaby
Someday
you’ll understand
what it means,
and then you’ll forget:
like when the sun
comes out
right before sundown:
brilliant half hour,
then darkness.
Sleep, and wait
for the next one.
Metastasis
One wish:
to go backwards
in time, and
stop the army
from invading
your skeleton
before it captured
your cells:
that wish
never granted,
your chance forever
blown into shrapnel,
scattered like
bits of detritus:
burnt sacrifice
to indifferent gods.
—
Leah Mueller is an indie writer and spoken word performer from Tacoma, Washington. She has published books with numerous small presses. Her most recent volumes, “Misguided Behavior, Tales of Poor Life Choices” (Czykmate Press) and “Death and Heartbreak” (Weasel Press) were released in October, 2019. Leah’s work also appears in Blunderbuss, The Spectacle, Outlook Springs, Atticus Review, Your Impossible Voice, and other publications. She won honorable mention in the 2012 Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry contest. Her new chapbook, “Cocktails at Denny’s” will be published by Alien Buddha Press in November, 2019.
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