Laid off friend

Drops by at four, raids
the fridge, toasts unhappy hour
to his firing squad.

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Depression

Bright summer days no
friend to sadness. Solace lies
in winter’s dark chill.

Upon reading the work of a great writer

Breathless, punched in the
gut seeing language evolve,
my own words falter.

Respects

They hadn’t spoken
in a year, but she came home
to wish him goodbye.

Dizziness diagnosis

He feared brain blood clots
but it’s labyrinthitis.
He’ll live after all.

Dizzy

Why his head spins he
doesn’t know. Vertigo’s made
the world hell’s fun house.

Hope

Dark fear crackling at
the edges, the heart beats on,
pulsing core of light.

Deciding not to go to Junior Prom

“I just want to feel
pretty,” she says through her tears.
She already is.

Undone

Pulling apart a
life together, the future
frays like a cut edge.

Ending

It happens over
coffee, one stunned, the other
already elsewhere.