Sometimes Brave - Crystal Vega-Huerta

I thought you’d come back,
a ghost, sinking your teeth
into my unbrave throat.

Or, sometimes brave.
Watching my eyes in the mirror,
watching myself swallow pill after pill.

I mouth your name, 
I mouth Sappho,
I mouth your name in Sappho’s mouth.

That is not true.

The pills were before you,
before God,
before my red mouth had had its fill.

There is only cowardice,
my father says, his eyes black with grief,
as he unhooks the stove,

as you’d unhooked my words from my throat.

”

—	Crystal Vega-Huerta, “Sometimes Brave”