I wasn’t paying attention
But, suddenly, you gave me no choice
Split me open til the alphabet soup spilled out
“Not your time” smeared against the sink

You were an interloper

A kiss interrupted by a bloody nose
Four horsemen bucking wildly through the county fair
Unnerving the show ponies and untying their bows
Projectile vomit at a child’s birthday party
Covering the toys in cake and bile

You were an unwelcome intrusion.

A trashcan stuffed with doggie bags, cooking in the hot summer sun
Putrid realities piercing a lovely sunset walk
Full frontal nudity well before noon

A surgical mask filtering out sweet lilac spring air

At first, you were a perfect night
The right time, the right place
My time, my place
Life was about to begin

But we woke up to find that I’d bled on your sheets.

Joanna Collins is a Nashville poet who moonlights as a government attorney. She was the Featured Poet in Nashville Poets Quarterly 2019 Q4 publication and has work in, or forthcoming from, Indolent Books, The American Theatre Chronicles, The Underground Writers Association of Portland, Maine, Funky Feminist, and Fleas on the Dog.

Joanna has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Notre Dame and a Juris Doctorate degree from Vanderbilt University Law School.