Liver
by Morgan Bazilian

  1. I try to yell at him
  2. In my head
  3. Dawn is near
  4. Open your eyes
  5. (The blue eyes of a baby
  6. even as a man)
  7. But he ignores me
  1. In a coma
  2. For six hours
  3. When he wakes
  4. He has lost himself
  5. Like he is always out of breath
  6. But won’t open his mouth
  7. Grinding his teeth
  1. He moves in to the top floor
  2. Of an old row house
  3. Somewhere in Minnesota
  4. And I don’t hear from him
  5. Then one day on the phone
  6. Madness in his voice
  7. And I cringe at the sound
  1. I remember his father
  2. Sanding the floors
  3. Of our college house
  4. Firm grip, strong hands
  5. Hair parted and fading
  6. Years later
  7. Bringing his big beautiful son to rehab
  1. Then a text
  2. A kidney failure
  3. And my strong friend
  4. Is dead
  5. His mother hugging me
  6. Trying to sooth us all
  7. At the funeral
Packingtown Review – Vol.9, Fall 2017

Morgan Bazilian’s poems and short fiction have appeared in journals including: Exercise Bowler, Pacific Poetry, Angle Poetry, Dead Flowers, Poetry Quarterly, Garbanzo Literary, Innisfree, Eclectica, South Loop Review, Embodied Effigies, Shadowbox, Slab, Crack the Spine, and Glasschord.

  1. James Wyshynski
    The 4th of Julypoetry