"Trust Metaphor" from Eric Tran's MOUTH, SUGAR, AND SMOKE

He gave me his box of pills

to taper out and I held it

in my hands like a bird

with a broken wing. No,

like a trusty, neglected

rag tossed in my trunk, or

a favorite resentment

I could revisit day

after day. A worry

stone, a paper cut

on my fingers' webbing.

The squeaky step

to his apartment

for each morning's

sacrament. What faith,

even when I forgot his dose

he'd say it's OK through

his fever's tremble. He knew

I'd be back. And better. A ballerina

twisting in a music box.

ISBN: 9781939728531 ; full-length poetry collection, 6x9" paperback

Publication Date: July 1, 2022

Location: Doha, Qatar and Richmond, Virginia

Distribution: Distributed by Diode Editions

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