perhappened mag
issue 14: HIDE & SEEK
aubade for
the body keeps the score
CATHERINE WEISS
Sometime in the night, the tide swept in
to the basement. Seaweed pushing through
the foundation. Pebbles by the washing machine.
I wake up softer for the intrusion.
I intended to be stoically academic about this.
Let’s call it The Worst Thing I Ever Did. I keep getting lost,
pupils dilated. That one afternoon,
the window’s light brilliant and burning.
I’d call it The Worst Thing I Ever Did
To Survive with enough practice
but I am too busy drowning. Three times
my husband calls me by name. Forgive me.
There was a bookshelf. A desk, a computer.
I have ceased to be here. Forgive me.
The bleaching sun rising over every kindness
I have since attempted. Forgive the long silence
and how I now try to break it. Forgive the book.
Forgive this morning, when I do not pick it up.
to the basement. Seaweed pushing through
the foundation. Pebbles by the washing machine.
I wake up softer for the intrusion.
I intended to be stoically academic about this.
Let’s call it The Worst Thing I Ever Did. I keep getting lost,
pupils dilated. That one afternoon,
the window’s light brilliant and burning.
I’d call it The Worst Thing I Ever Did
To Survive with enough practice
but I am too busy drowning. Three times
my husband calls me by name. Forgive me.
There was a bookshelf. A desk, a computer.
I have ceased to be here. Forgive me.
The bleaching sun rising over every kindness
I have since attempted. Forgive the long silence
and how I now try to break it. Forgive the book.
Forgive this morning, when I do not pick it up.
Catherine Weiss is a poet and artist living in Maine. Their work has been published in Tinderbox, Up the Staircase Quarterly, Counterclock, Hobart After Dark, and elsewhere. Their debut full-length collection “Wolf Girls vs. Horse Girls” (Game Over Books) was released in 2021. More at catherineweiss.com.