DIVORCE

D I V O R C E

The first time I left


I came back and they were calm.


The normal hellos and what's up dad


Like the affairs that kept me out


Were those of readings and book fairs


I felt the same, didn't I?


But my boat did not came back

To stay the night


And then the grabbing and the throwing

And then the wraping and the folding


And there was me

Putting myself inside the boxes




Oh they noticed that


Questions were asked


Hearts were uncertain


And the boxes remained there a couple of days


So they could play around

And spy a little


Into their father’s mess




Done




A month later I came to chat


We played and they all jumped around

Gathered and said they missed me so


It came though

Summers' higher point


Vacations by the other side of the coast


And haircuts redefined


As haircuts always do


All things in people's heads


I came to see them by the couch


My presence, you know...


Kids will be kids


Besides the different set of keys


It seemed no different


From the first absence of mine

It was the third month




Then I casually only turned my head and saw


What once I wish I could've done


Was finally fixed


That rutless chill


Inside my spine


Given my picture on the wall


Was there no more.

É.S. 

ÉRIQ SÁÑEZ (É.S.) is a poet and fiction writer with Literature and Creative Writing studies. He won a national short fiction award in 2010. Poems and short stories of him can be found online. His debut book (Julio Torri National Short Fiction Award 2014) named La Novela Zombi (The Zombie Novel) Conaculta, 2015, is now available.