JULIA MALLORY
If This Were a Lifetime Movie
After Maxine
You would be sitting on the beach
Evening out the tan on your born with brown skin
Sipping a thick daiquiri
With just a lick of liquor
The way I used to make them for you
Your sandmates would keep
Sneaking peeks because you brought
The sun to the beach
And they just know you are somebody
A star, retreating from a dark world
They will want to send you food you won’t eat
Or drinks you won’t touch
It is the only way they know how to make offerings to a goddess
If this were a Lifetime Movie
You would call my line with waves crashing in the background
A pause before quiet
And I would know that you escaped to full freedom
Through a faux death
Instead of a real one
Slipping from this dimension so uncharacteristically ordinary
As we drown in guilt
Knowing, we didn’t deserve you
Julia Mallory (she/they) is a storyteller working with a range of medium from text to textiles. Their work can be found in Barrelhouse, The Offing, Stellium Literary Magazine, and elsewhere.