My father got to leave when he was 47.
Diagnosed one week
coffined the next.
Gone. Dead. Free.
Does that age
that magic number
translate to a life expectancy
for his expectant
messed-up
eagerly-awaiting-escape
children?
Of us, I am the eldest
the older sister
I will be the one
who reaches that potential finish line
first
And it’s true
I am the most desperate to get there
reaching for that ribbon
begging hardest and loudest and most relentlessly
for the poison, the blackness, to grow inside me
to invade and destroy me
to give me a way out
—an exit for which I cannot be blamed.
T-minus five years and counting
Allison Black is a queer, disabled writer who has a very tricky brain and a BA in Creative and Professional Writing. Her work has been published or is forthcoming in The Cabinet of Heed, eucalyptus & rose, and Sledgehammer Lit. Allison currently resides on Dja Dja Wurrung land in regional Victoria, Australia with her awesome rescue cat, Astrid. You can find them both on Twitter @crashing_silent.
Rough Diamond Poetry 