For My Rose and All Its Thorns
by Emily Kruger
Like all the good things gone before you went the way of wind. In the yard,
years ago my father and his father too. The rose bloomed and thorned
every year. It’s the loss that makes you rot from the inside out.
Eating at the leaves and chewing the stem. Clinging like
flesh on bone. Rooted so deep inside it feels part
of you. You can cut away all you like.
A little here, a little there,
as years go on
until there’s
nothing
left.
Emily Kruger was born and raised in nowheresville South Carolina. A recent college graduate, between wrangling cats and dogs she finds time to write about her life in ways that seem meaningful.
