Poetry by Alexis Rhone Fancher

                 hnt6581 CC



​Keeping Things Cold


I’ve hung on to what’s left over -
what you touched, what fed you,

taken stock of the refrigerator’s gelid interior,
sought evidence you were here.

Behind the yellow mustard,
and a half-squeezed tube of disappointment, 

that Tiger Sauce you loved. 
Best Before: Sept. 2007. 

Some things I needed to keep.

Today, in the mail, an invitation.
Your Amy is getting married in the fall.

You’ll be gone eleven years.

Who invites the dead fiancé’s mother to her wedding?

She must have weighed the pros and cons as I do, 
afraid I’ll put a damper on the day for those who knew you,

and burden those who ask: And how do you know the bride?

Afraid she’ll hurt if I don’t show.
Afraid she’ll hurt if I do.

I search online for the perfect gift,
compose my best excuse.

Tonight, I’ll make French onion soup (your favorite),
globules of butterfat dancing on its surface,

like I would have danced at your wedding.


Published in Diode, July, 2018

​



Overdose 


No, he did not look natural in his coffin.
He is not in a better place.

Don’t compare your pain to mine. Your dog 
getting hit by a truck is not the same.

You really don’t know how I feel.

Don’t say you’re devastated.
Does it always have to be about you?

Don’t ask me about Fentanyl.
Don’t tell me not to dwell.

Don’t minimize my loss.
My boy is not better off dead.

For once, let’s say it like it is:

He did not pass away.
He died.

There is no plan.
Don’t say he is at peace. 

Silence is good. A hug.
Tell me you have no words. 

Or tell me stories of that summer
he rode the bulls in Ogden,

all that life tightly in his grip.


for K.S-B.


First published in The Dead Kid Poems (KYSO Flash Press, 2019)




Alexis Rhone Fancher is published in Best American Poetry, Rattle, Hobart, Verse Daily, Plume, Tinderbox, Cleaver, Diode, Poetry East, Flock, Nashville Review, and elsewhere. She’s authored five poetry collections, most recently, Junkie Wife (Moon Tide Press, 2018), and The Dead Kid Poems (KYSO Flash Press, 2019). Her photographs are featured worldwide. A multiple Pushcart Prize and Best of  the Net nominee, Alexis is poetry editor of Cultural Weekly. www.alexisrhonefancher.com