Memoria by Madison Stone
please tell me I am good
gather up my soft and
scattered pieces and
rebuild me in your image
please tell me I am easy to love
please tell me I take up space like a coat rack
please tell me how this house will unravel when I am gone
how the floorboards will pry themselves loose and
the paint will bubble and
peel off in flower-petal flecks
of ash
the sun is down and I am here dressed
in white linen and
puffy sleeves, please
don’t throw a sheet over my head and call me a ghost
please know that I am still alive
please tell me that I am still alive
my body is not a temple my body is
a haunted house, please
haunt me, please
linger in my periphery, please
walk these halls of mine barefoot and bathed
in moonlight, please
don’t leave me vacant holding this silence in the hollow of my chest, please-
please think of me when I’m not there
please leave a spot for me at the breakfast table
please do not consider me gone
please tell me I am here again and
again and
again.