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Los Angeles Winter, 2022
by Tianna Bratcher

So I took the couch 

And the good Pyrex pan 

And the full bottles of seasoning

The jar of expensive honey 

The izzakko pictures off the wall 
​
And the sheepskin rug  

Be happy I only have two hands

I left all your shit unburned 

Your tv unhammered 

Your shirts uncut 

You found your PS4 where you left it 

And not submerged in a salt bath 

When I was 10, I spent the summer at my cousin’s

Where we didn’t have cable 

Left with our daydreams

And a never-ending box of DVDs 

we chose to watch Diary of a Mad Black Woman every day 

There was something about the look in Charles’ eyes 

When he became a recipient of Helen’s rage 

That lets us know our vengeance is righteous 

Is our birthright 

We vowed to never let a man make a mess of us 

And to make a mess if one ever did 

We are supposed to leave piles of embers 

Litter the street with your drawers

Cut your face out of the framed pictures 

Replace the floorboards with glass 

I replayed your threatening voicemails 

And still swept the floor before I left 

Wiped down the counters 

Left every wine glass unshattered 

I come from women who slash tires 

Put sugar in gas tanks 

take bats and bricks to walls and windows 

Who take tools to build a man’s downfall

Who have I dishonored by walking away

Without creating wreckage? 

What legacy have I broken by breaking nothing?


Tianna Bratcher (they/she) is a Black, queer, genderfluid poet living in Los Angeles. They have received fellowships from The Watering Hole, Griot’sWell, and Tin House. Their work has been published in or is forthcoming in*Poetry *Magazine, Muzzle Magazine, Shade Literary Arts, Stellium Lit Magazine, Ink Well, December Magazine, and elsewhere. Tianna is receiving her MFA in Creative writing at Randolph College, is a big sister and aspiring movie critic who is infatuated with vampire media, the lives of trees, and collage-making.

ISSN 2157-8079
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