Evaporation At the Scenic Overlook
Footsteps as the truck moved on. I turned to see him
walking toward me with a big red Slurpee.
You left me at the hotel, he said. You don’t wanna
wake up beside me? I said, I never woke up beside you.
I had to leave to wake up, a joke he didn’t get. I kicked
at the sand on the blacktop with my boot.
Well, you’re stuck with me, he said.
I don’t believe that anymore, I told him.
You can’t leave me out here, he threatened,
I’ll dehydrate. Fat chance with that Slurpee
sweating and dripping sizzles onto the asphalt.
In the steam of that liquid rising I saw my marriage evaporate.
All the dishes, the vacuuming, dusting, the washing and folding
taking care and making sure, the having everything
in case he might desire and the sex without pleasure.
The silence. The kind that made me wish for noise.
Gone. I wouldn’t get in the car with him again.
I’d find another way into the desert onto the rocks, down
the steep drop. It’s good – you want some, he offered
but I wasn’t thirsty. I felt different, on my way somehow.
Take the car. The keys are inside. And leave you here? Are you crazy?
I thought things were good. We slept under the stars. We were together.
I stood firm, no hip shift, no head tilt, no smile
after so many years lying. I bit my cheeks
refused to please. What is it? he asked
as if he could fix it. Don’t come any closer, I told him.
I release you. I’m gonna live in the desert-garden
green and lush. He started to pace with impatience.
There’s nothing green here. Let’s get in the car.
You don’t know anything about the desert.
How we lash out when we cannot get our way
to minimize, infantilize, we turn our language into knives.
*
Emma Goldman-Sherman’s poems are forthcoming in Bellingham Review (finalist for the 49th Parallel Award) and the chapbook, “Dear Palestine,” (Moonstone Press). Their work has been published in Quartet, Strange Horizons, Toyon, Eckleburg, Gigantic Sequins (1st Prize), Ghost City Press, Best Microfictions (2025 & ’26) and others. They support writers and artists at BraveSpace.online.