Libby's Odyssey

a brand new outfit

perhaps a fragrance or two

frivolous, frilly things

cannot replace what’s missing from you

all things beautiful and lavish 

perhaps a diamond ring 

but cut without love or understanding 

only sharpens the sting 

if i had all the time in the world

the trash in my room would have to go

but time keeps passing anyway

and the pile keeps growing slow

receipts, dead flowers, torn clothes

kept to keep myself whole

evidence of trying to stay

when departure always felt like the goal

a graveyard of a child

i never learned how to outgrow

still crying though skin and bone

in a body that should already know

memories of people who no longer exist 

in the pile of trash bends and tips

a child folded neatly into the mess 

with tears and snot running down her lips