The Burning Bush by Donna Dallas

​The Burning Bush

They want to know what I think as I stare out the window

I’m thinking a rare filet mignon

a cheeseburger

I’m thinking…….when was the last time I dropped anything

off at the dry cleaners…….

I thought the garbage went out yesterday - I thought wrong            I thought

I pulled a soulmate out from that endless sea

of men

I thought your jeans looked a little tight

a few months ago          most recently I thought you

slimmed down almost back to perfection - almost back to that buff body we began

with

and I think to myself

why

why so perfect

now                 years and years later

why am I more unkempt and you

are chiseled and razor            and yes we know           we always know

as I think along

I realize you created an inner circle of angst      that deadly ring of fire

in which our burdens from so

many yesterdays

burned through        small cinders

and sparks in the ash of here and now                             and then I think…….see what

we do when bitches are burned -- it’s the ugly

it’s the raising of the center

of Dis        and there goes a cattle truck

I wonder if they know they are going to

die                    the cows………………I try to think how do they kill them         the cows

I can’t imagine what happens       and I notice the long road to our

home I don’t even know the street names

anymore I just know the landscape     if I couldn’t read I would know by the

Flame bushes and the Ghost Maples

the Weeping Willow and

I think I know exactly where I am…….a young blonde woman jogs by perhaps a

new neighbor I’ve never seen her before she’s quite extraordinary and

I can’t take my eyes off her                it’s just a diversion

I think

just a way to stop

thinking                        but thoughts are like air my

love………….breathe them in and in and never                       enough

can’t stop                               can’t function without…….

the thought

of you is

what kills me over and

over


​

Donna Dallas studied creative writing and philosophy at NYU.  She was originally published in The New York Quarterly and studied under founder and Editor, William Packard.  She took a slight hiatus and most recently has appeared in Visceral Uterus, Red Fez Magazine, Bewildering Stories and several other publications.

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