"Something on my Psyche" by Brianna Simmons

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I saw Cupid eating dumplings at the bar

I’d seen him around here before shit went down

back home, when I thought love might stick around

for longer than a one-night stand

He just kept on eating when I sat down beside him

I said, Can I tell you something that’s been weighing on my

Psyche, won’t you come back to me

I know I’m the one that ran away

but you should know there’s nothing melted

beyond repair with us, don’t you know?

that nothing can compare to us

Cupid just kept on eating,

The tip-tap of chopsticks on the edge

Enough to match a heartbeat he’d struck

too many times, heartstrings about worn out

from everything he’s been peddling ‘round here

And when he finished, he said,

Can I tell you something that’s been weighing on my,

Psyche won’t touch me no more, not like she used to

Back when it was only us, and my goddamn mother

didn’t hover so much, Psyche, oh Psyche, she says

She’s gonna leave me with my mother and I yell and

Scream don’t go, babe, don’t go

I see she’s struck a nerve, something too deep to sew up

with bowstring thread, he’s barely hanging on

Gripping the chopsticks enough to bend ‘em

Like he’s itching to shoot somebody, anybody

Any body with a heart, I’m glad mine left a long time ago

She left a long time ago

I order more dumplings and finally his grip on the chopsticks

softens like candle wax, they slip back into the empty bowl

And shit, the wax is running from his eyes

He uses a stained napkin to wipe it up and we eat

whatever this shitty place’ll give us,

Taking anything, they’ll give us

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Brianna Simmons is a graduate of the Susquehanna University Creative Writing program. A fan of Frankenstein, she stitches her works of fiction and poetry together until they can’t be separated. She loves the intricacies of human cultures and mythologies and aims to learn while she writes.

Instagram: bsmithy29

Twitter: bns_and_Bris