Faithful Departed

by Justin Groppuso-Cook

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We divvy up cough medicine
& chain-smoke
as the room induces
a sort of sweat. 
She dyes her hair
as the sink spills 
with moonlight, hallways 
numb with heat. 
Bulbs flicker on & off 
& on the floor I use 
ash as concealer: 
our eyes the tint
of prescription bottles. 
How does one hide from 
abandonment? We mold
paper mâché masks
for one another. Trick & treat 
ourselves, the neighbors unresponsive.
Half the houses have no candy, 
no porch lights to guide— 
the kids are nowhere 
to be found. Everywhere 
leaves curl up like flames. 
She digs a butt from the ashtray,
sucks away the last 
millimeters of its life.

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Justin Groppuso-Cook is a poet, musician, and healing artist from Detroit, Michigan. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in Best New Poets, Iron Horse Review, Witness, Chicago Quarterly Review, American Literary Review, and Masculinity: an anthology of modern voices published by Broken Sleep Books. His manuscript, "Illuminated Pupils", has been a semi-finalist for the Black River Chapbook Competition and Tomaž Šalamun Prize. He is a writer-in-residence at InsideOut Literary Arts Project and poetry reader for West Trade Review. More information can be found on his website: www.sunnimani.com.