TRAGIC Poem: bent neck, by Matt Wunsch

Neither of us think we can do this much
longer. Q’s mom got abnormal brain scans

a bleed a tumor Q’s gotta help with
the bills.

dad says it’s his fault— the stress of being
his mother and all.

Q’s worried this one will be it. He has a dream
her head fills

like a water balloon on a spout. The weight
of it all— head kinked bent neck— fell

like a Marionette when you drop the strings.
Q drowns in the fluid—

Q says I really just want to … his voice dissolves
like summer does in autumn.

We kick the silence down with our boots and
carry a patient to a second

floor apartment— piss stains on the carpet,
old food on the nightstand,

shit stains caked the sheets. I hear
her tv click on as the door clamps

shut. We walk the floor as the boards trace
our steps

like old ships tethered by rope—the woven
fiber starting to unravel.