Undies Poem, by Florence Mango, at My poetic side

You left me stumbling around with

my underwear in my hands.

Seething with shame,

pressing my thighs—

I’d forgotten how to clot.

I’d lost my footing.

You caught me with sharp fingernails,

laid me bare and bruised,

thin skinned and

not just naked, but

stripped.

Stripped like bleach,

with a chemical taste

and a branded throat.

Nothing burns like being held

by someone who can’t remember

that my eyes are brown.

I wish I never gave you the graces

of flesh, of bone,

what was left of my body.

And if I’m doomed to carry my underwear

by my side for the rest of time, then

forget the rest of me too.

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