Sister
self righteous
indignation
feels good on this cold,
dark monday
waiting
for the pharmacist to call
instead my mom texts
"can't get ahold of
your sister,
missing again
boyfriend smashed her
phone with a hammer
worried about her
living out of her
car"
"she chooses the car"
"she won't come home"
looking at my clock now
to remind myself it's
not 2015, 2013, 2010 and 12
"what's new"
"whats new is her job at the church"
"new job?"
"new church, she got fired for sexual
harassment at the
Pentecostal one"
I think of my five foot,
ninety pound sister
"sounds about right"
think of her scrubbing shit
off toilet seats
for the same church that
protested the lethal injection
of the dude
who murdered my cousin's
uncle
not my story,
not my shit,
but something smells,
at the church that keeps silent
about my sister's anorexic
frame,
black and violet bruises
beneath her tired, bloodshot eyes
at least her eyebrows grew back
that was another boyfriend
another time
guess the church doesn't make
signs
protesting slow murder
for their own employees
my sister contacts mom
from the library
free internet, fat desktop
gets on facebook
"i'm alive"
mom texts again
"i really hope the republicans
don't
shut down funding
for the one safe place
your sister has
to go"
"mom, don't be ridiculous,
she hangs out at mcdonalds"
"the breakfast crowd loves her"
"loves her"
"wish he would too"
"wish he'd go like the first one,
remember when he flew
over the handlebars
of his motorcycle on I-270?"
silence
"mom?"
"your sister's boyfriend
is off his meds"
i look at his mugshots
for fun
watching his hair getting greasier
as the years pass online
waiting for the call that
he's done it,
killed her
i really need the pharmacist
to call first
i look at the clock
to remind myself its not
2016, 2017, 2018, 2009
By McKenzie Moser
Biography:
McKenzie Moser is a Los Angeles-based writer/director. She holds an MFA in Writing for Screen and Television from USC. She is a Missouri Stories Scriptwriting Fellow and Missouri Film Office production lab recipient. Her essays have appeared in Wild Women Stories, International Human Rights Arts Festival, and Eat Darling Eat.
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